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Development of Manual Training 
in the United States 



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$Y 

H. Ross Smith 



A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the 
University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment 
of the Requirements for the Degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy 



Intelligencer Print 

Lancaster, Pa. 

1914 



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Gift 




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MAY 3 1814 





CONTENTS 



Preface 5 

Chapter I — Historical Sketch 7 

Chapter 1 1— Conditions Which Led to the Introduc- 
tion OF Manual Training; Obstacles Which Re- 
tarded Its Growth ^6 

Chapter III— Effect of the Introduction of Manual 

Training upon American Education 4^ 

Chapter IV— Present Day Tendencies 73 

Conclusion °^ 

oo 

Bibliography 



PREFACE 

It is the purpose of this thesis to trace out the development 
of Manual Training in the United States; to state the causes 
which were responsible for its introduction; to suggest the bene- 
fits derived ; and to give some idea of the present trend of educa- 
tional thought in regard to the subject. Much has been written 
in recent years about Vocational Education, Industrial Train- 
ing, Technical Training, Mechanic Arts, and Trade Schools. 
Discussion of these forms of training does not lie within the 
scope of this paper, except when they are so interrelated with 
Manual Training that it is practically impossible to divorce 

them. 

Domestic Science is not treated under a separate headmg, 
but is discussed in its relation to Manual Training. Much that 
is said concerning Manual Training is true, also, of Domestic 
Science. What Manual Training is to the boys. Domestic 
Science is to the girls. 

Much confusion has arisen among the uninitiated because 
of the different terms used, hence, it is of prime importance 
that the distinction between Manual Training and the other 
forms of training be made perfectly clear. 

A Manual Training course, as outlined at the present time, 
consists of a graded course in wood, iron, and machinists' work; 
systematic and continued instruction in free-hand and mechan- 
ical drawing, combined with academic studies as co-ordinated 
departments. It is not the purpose of Manual Training to 
teach trades, but rather to make the boy familiar with the use 
of tools. It is disciplinary in that it endeavors to train the 
hand for the purpose of securing at the same time the training 
of the mind, through the senses of touch and perception. At 
the same time the eye is being trained to accurate observation. 
This training first found a place in the curriculum of the high 



6 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

schools, but soon began to push its way down into the elemen- 
tary grades. It is with these phases of our educational work 
that this investigation has to deal. 

In the definition of the other terms, I conform largely to the 
definitions suggested by Dr. David Snedden, Commissioner of 
Education for Massachusetts, given in detail in Bulletin No. 
12 of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education. 

Vocational Education is the most comprehensive term in 
use at the present time. It is defined as that phase of educa- 
tion whose controlling purpose is to fit for a calling or voca- 
tion. In its completeness it always involves at least two large 
distinguishable aspects — practice in the productive work of the 
calling itself and study of or about the sciences, art, mathe- 
matics, economy, history, or technique which enter into or 
relate to it. The first may be called the concrete or practical 
part of Vocational Training, the second, the technical or theo- 
retical part. 

Industrial Education may be considered as that phase of 
education whose controlling purpose is to fit for a trade, craft, 
or special division of manufacturing work. When defined in 
this way, it becomes but one form of Vocational Education. 

Technical education is designed to be part of vocational 
education. Each v^ocation or group of related vocations may 
have its own body of technical studies or technical studies 
common to other vocations. Technical training may be con- 
sidered, then, as that training which is derived from those 
studies which pertain to some particular art, science, trade, or 
the like. 

Mechanic Arts education is a vague phrase describing ac- 
tivities carrying from Manual Training procedures through 
technical studies to fully developed trade education. 

A Trade School is an industrial school in which practical 
work, at least as exercises, if not productive, is a prominent 
feature. Such a school is usually designed (except in the case 
of girls) for youths of sixteen or more years, corresponding to 
the customary age of admission to apprenticeship. 



CHAPTER I 

Historical Sketch 

Certain of the principles underlying manual training, de- 
pending largely upon native instincts and ability, have always 
been practiced by man in his various activities. Under prim- 
itive conditions, children learned to perform their duties through 
imitation and by the aid of whatever assistance the parents 
might see fit to give. These duties required manual effort, 
without the aid of intellectual studies. As exchange markets 
came into existence, the divisions of labor became more and 
more definitely defined. As the divisions of labor multiplied, 
the Guild and apprenticeship systems were developed to train 
the beginners. These systems, however, have gradually died 
out, and, in their places, modern thought has demanded that 
the State should hold itself responsible for the instruction of 
the youth, no matter what pursuit in life he may elect. It is 
not my intent to trace this modern thought in detail, with the 
exception of the development of the movement in its relation 
to the public school system of this country. 

It will be sufficient if mention is made of but a few of those 
who first advocated the introduction of manual work in the 
school room. As early as the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, Martin Luther emphasized the moral advantages to be 
derived, if manual work were required in addition to the regular 
academic studies. Commenius, 1592-1671, in "The Great 
Didactic," suggests that boys would better find out their special 
aptitudes if they were given a general knowledge of the me- 
chanic arts. 

The Catholic missionaries were emphasizing the manual 
aspect of education in America as early as 1629. The earliest 
schools within the present limits of the United States were 
established by the Franciscans in Florida and New Mexico. 



8 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

The instruction given in the schools in New Mexico was of a 
two-fold character: "Up to nine years of age, the children were 
taught reading, writing, catechism, singing, and playing on 
musical instruments. Spanish was also taught. A striking 
feature of this system of education was its practical character. 
From nine years of age on, the work of the pupil in school was 
almost wholly industrial. The common arts and trades of the 
civilized world formed the curriculum — tailoring, shoemaking, 
carpentering, carving, blacksmithing, bricklaying, stonecutting. 
The girls were taught to sew and to spin."i 

In 1647 Sir Wm. Pelty suggested a plan for an Industrial 
School. He states: "Let in no case the art of drawing and 
designing be omitted, to what course of life soever those chil- 
dren are to be applied; since the use thereof for expressing the 
conceptions of the mind seems, at least to us, to be little inferior 
to that of writing, and in many cases performeth what by words 
is impossible."^ The recommendations of Rousseau, 1712- 
1778, in his Emile are so well known that it is not necessary to 
repeat them here. Kinderman, 1740-1801, was one of the first 
to put manual work into actual operation in the school. In 1771 
he introduced, among the boys and girls in his Bohemian parish, 
practical instruction, which dealt particularly with their local 
occupations. During the latter part of the eighteenth century 
and the beginning of the nineteenth, Arnold Wageman, Dr. I. 
G. Krunitz, Fichte, and others made important contributions 
toward the development of the sentiment that boys and girls 
would be greatly benefited by receiving instruction in practical 
subjects. 

Special mention should, no doubt, be made of Peletier, Froe- 
bel, Pestalozzi, and Cygnaeus. "In 1793, Robespierre pro- 
posed to the National Assembly of France a bill for a new educa- 
tional scheme, prepared by Michael de Peletier. The plan 
aimed to instill the duty of the habit of work, not as thorough 
knowledge of any special trade, but as the development of that 

ij. A. Burns, "The Catholic School System in the United States," pp 41 
and 42. ' ^^ ^ 

''Barnard's "American Journal of Education," Vol. XI, p. 202. 



Development of Manual Training in the Ufiited States 9 

energy and industrious activity which characterizes earnest, 
diligent persons. Peletier says: 'I consider this part of educa- 
tion the most important, and, therefore, my plan of general in- 
struction contains manual labor as its vital feature. Of all 
the means likely to stimulate the average child, none will pro- 
duce a greater desire for activity than physical work. I would 
desire that various kinds of handicraft work might be intro- 
duced."'3 

The story of Pestalozzi's life is a life of unceasing devotion 
and self-sacrifice to a cause to which he consecrated himself. 
It was his aim to help the poverty-stricken children particularly, 
and by the aid of his educational scheme, to aid and uplift them 
and prepare them for their proper places in society. His first at- 
tempt was at Neuhof, where, during the first year, the children 
"made considerable progress with their manual work, as well as 
with the lessons that were joined with it, taking great pleasure in 
both. All they did and said, moreover, seemed to express their 
appreciation of their benefactor's kind care of them."* 

In the course of an appeal he made in 1776, Pestalozzi states: 
"I promise to teach them all to read, write, and cipher; I prom- 
ise to give all the boys, so far as my position and knowledge will 
allow me, practical instruction in the most profitable methods 
of cultivating small plots of land, to teach them to lay down 
pasture land, to understand the use and value of manures, to 
know the different sorts of grasses and the importance of mix- 
ing them; — it will be the household needs, too, that will give 
the girls an opportunity of learning gardening, domestic duties, 
and needlework." 5 

When Pestalozzi was given charge of the poor house at Stanz, 
his plan was warmly recommended by the members of the 
Directory, which issued a decree which provided among other 
things that "the time of the pupils will be divided between 
field work, house work, and study. An attempt will be made to 
develop in the pupils as much skill, and as many useful powers 
as the funds of the establishment will allow."* 



3 Row, "The Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Industries," p. 29. 
* De Guimps, "Pestalozzi— His Life and Works," p. 55. 
' Ibid., p. 57. 
« Ibid., p. 133. 



10 Developjnent of Manual Training in the United States 

Pestalozzi's conception that manual and mental effort be 
combined was not an entirely new idea, but he gave it a more 
thorough trying out than had ever been attempted before. 
His experiments all ended in failure eventually, but his prin- 
ciples have been followed ever since in modified form. Had he 
been a better executive, his plans and ideas might not have 
miscarried so miserably. 

Whatever of importance and value has come down to us from 
Pestalozzi, we owe more to his intense enthusiasm and untir- 
ing zeal, which made him persevere against all odds, rather than 
to any actual benefits derived from his teachings. Yet he 
pointed out that his ideas were practical under capable man- 
agem.ent. 

At the present time we probably associate Froebel's name 
more closely with the introduction of the kindergarten than 
with any other single pedagogical principle. Yet many of his 
ideas apply equally well to boys and girls who are above the 
kindergarten grade. There is no doubt that the exploitation 
of his principles had much to do with crystallizing the manual 
training movement. Froebel was probably greatly aided by 
his association with Pestalozzi at Yverdum, in working out his 
educational scheme. 

Froebel believed that "every child, boy, and youth, what- 
ever his condition or position in life, should devote daily at least 
one or two hours to some serious activity in the production of 
some definite external piece of work. Lessons through and by 
work, through and from life, are by far the most impressive 
and mtelligible, and most continuously and intensively pro- 
gressive both in themselves and in their effect on the learner "^ 
He goes on to say that "The domestic and scholastic education 
of our time leads children to indolence and laziness; a vast 
amount of human power thereby remains undeveloped and is 
lost. It would be a most wholesome arrangement in schools 
to establish actual working hours similar to the existing study 
hours; and it will surely come to this.^ 

^Froebel, "The Education of Man." Tr. by W. N. Hailman. p. 34. 
lota., p. 35. ' ^ ^^ 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 1 1 

"Froebel proposed to devote the forenoon to the instruction 
in the current subjects of school study, and the afternoon to 
work in the field, garden, the forest, and in and around the 
house. "^ His occupations comprised many of those now carried 
on in the manual training room and in the kindergarten. 

Finland secured a prominent place in the manual training 
movement when, in 1866, she required that a simple course in 
manual training be made a part of the curricula of all the ele- 
mentary schools. The course was outlined by Cygnaeus eight 
years before its final adoption. Following closely upon the 
action of Finland, Victor Della-Vos, Director of the Imperial 
Technical School of Moscow, introduced a method of tool- 
instruction, the exposition of which, by President J. D. Runkle, 
of the Mass. Institute of Technology'-, was largely responsible 
for the interest manifested by many of our own educators in 
the movement. 

Such, in brief, is an outline of the development of the feeling 
which was aroused among educators in many countries, that 
the senses, the mind, and the hand should be trained simul- 
taneously. Only those educational thinkers have been men- 
tioned who were the most prominent advocates of the new 
scheme of education up to the time when our own country 
began to take an active interest in the movement. 

In the mean time, the same question was being agitated in 
the United States, but not as extensively as in some of the foreign 
countries. One of the first, and perhaps the first, of our coun- 
trymen to give his views on this phase of education, was Benja- 
min Rush. In a letter to George Clymer, Esq., under the date 
August 20th, 1790, he expressed his thoughts upon the amuse- 
ments and punishments which are proper for schools. In the 
course of the letter he writes as follows: "I w^ould propose 
that the amusements of our youth, at school, should consist 
of such exercises as will be most subservient to their future em- 
ployments in life. These are: (i) agriculture; (2) mechanical 
occupations; and (3) the business of the learned professions. "i" 



Froebel, "The Education of Man," Tr. by W. N. Hailman, p. 38. 
" "Essays by Benjamin Rush, M. D.," published by Thomas and Samuel 
E. Bradford, Phila., 1798, p. 58. 



12 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Here we have expressed the demand for vocational education 
which has become so prevalent in recent years. Dr. David 
Snedden has recently stated that "the education whose con- 
trolling motive in the choice of means and methods is to pre- 
pare for productive efficiency is vocational" . . . "and 
from the standpoint of social necessity, vocational education 
given by some agency is indispensable."" He goes on to show 
that this agency should be the school. The wording of the two 
statements, separated by more than a hundred years, is dif- 
ferent, but the meaning is the same; the school should furnish 
such instruction as will best prepare the youth for his future 
occupation. Under types of vocational education Dr. Snedden 
suggests: (a) The professional; (b) the commercial; (c) the 
agricultural; (d) the industrial, or those connected with manu- 
facturing and the mechanic arts; (e) the household. ^^ Here 
again, it is seen that the divisions of vocational education, as 
suggested by the two men, are practically the same. In the 
time of Benjamin Rush, the commercial pursuits had not at- 
tained sufficient importance to warrant a separate heading and 
the household arts were still taken care of by the home. 

In his admirable letter Dr. Rush continues: "There is a 
variety in the employments of agriculture which may readily be 
suited to the genius, taste, and strength of young people. An 
experiment has been made of the efficiency of these employ- 
ments, as amusements, in the Methodist College at Abington, 
in Maryland, and, I have been informed, with the happiest 
effects. A large lot is divided between the scholars, and prem- 
iums are adjudged to those of them who produce the most 
vegetables from their grounds, or who keep them in the best 
order. 

"As the employments of agriculture cannot afford amuse- 
ment at all seasons of the year, or in cities, I would propose 
that children should be allured to seek amusements in such 
of the mechanical arts as are suited to their strength and capac- 

J^J^^t^ ^"'^^'"' "^^^ P'-^bl^'" «f Vocational Education," Houghton. 
Mimin Co., p. 13. 

^ Ibid., p. 23. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 13 

ities. Where is the boy who does not dehght in the use of a 
hammer — a chisel — or a saw? And who has not enjoyed a 
high degree of pleasure in his youth, in constructing a miniature 
house? How amusing are the machines which are employed in 
the manufacturing of clothing of all kinds! And how full of 
various entertainment are the mixtures which take place in the 
chemical arts! Each of these might be contrived upon such a 
scale, as not only to amuse young people, but to afford a profit 
to their parents or masters. The Moravians, at Bethlehem in 
our state (Pennsylvania), have proved that this proposition is 
not a chimerical one. All the amusements of their children are 
derived from their performing the subordinate parts of several 
of the mechanical arts. 

"To train the youth who are intended for the learned pro- 
fessions or for merchandise, to the duties of their future employ- 
ment, by means of useful amusements, which are related to 
those employments, will be impracticable; but their amuse- 
ments may be derived from cultivating a spot of ground; for 
where is the lawyer, the physician, the divine, or the merchant, 
who has not indulged or felt a passion, in some part of his life, 
for rural improvements? Indeed I conceive the seeds of knowl- 
edge in agriculture will be most productive when they are 
planted in the minds of this class of scholars."" 

Further on he states: "To obviate these evils (obliging 
children to sit too long in one place, or crowding too many of 
them together in one room), children should be permitted, after 
they have said their lessons, to amuse themselves in the open 
air, in some of the useful and agreeable exercises which have 
been mentioned. Their minds will be strengthened, as well as 
their bodies relieved by them. To oblige a sprightly boy to 
sit seven hours in a day, with his little arms pinioned to his 
sides, and his neck unnaturally bent towards his book; and for 
no crime! What cruelty and folly are manifested by such an 
absurd mode of instructing or governing young people."" 



^^ "Essays by Benjamin Rush, M. D.," published by Thomas and Samuel 
E. Bradford, Phila., 1798, pp. 58, 59, 60. 
" Ihid., p. 63. 



14 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

It is to be observed that this letter was written before Robes- 
pierre presented his bill to the National Assembly of France, 
before Pestalozzi started his school at Stanz, and when Froebel 
was but eight years old. It is to be further observed that two 
institutions in this country are mentioned as having already 
introduced some of the principles suggested, and it is fair to 
assume that there were others in existence. As has been pointed 
out, vocational training was suggested by Rush. He also recom- 
mended some of the principles that have recently been taken 
up and exploited by the advocates of manual training. He 
suggests that those who intend to enter the learned profes- 
sions would derive much benefit from practicing agriculture, 
and that, by taking part in cultivating a piece of ground and 
in mechanical work, after their lessons have been recited, the 
children would both strengthen their minds and relieve their 
bodies. Quite recently I asked a teacher of manual training 
what, in his opinion, was the greatest benefit derived from a 
manual training course. His reply was almost identical with 
the statement above. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century, manual 
labor academies were organized in various parts of the United 
States. One illustration will be sufficient to give an idea of the 
method of procedure. The Oneida Institute, N. Y., was es- 
tablished in 1827. Business men of the town gave employ- 
ment to students and paid the institution for their services. 
The students made joiner's tools, some beating out mouths, 
others making handles, and others finishing tools. Others 
were employed in the wagon and sleigh shop, blacksmith shop, 
cabinet shop, in the making of bedstead material, in the making 
of brooms, etc. In 1833, the trustees had measures in progress 
to furnish a thorough and full course of classical instruction. 

After the institute had been in operation for six years, the 
conclusions of the superintendent were: that young men are 
willing to labor; that both mind and body are benefited; pro- 
gress in study is not retarded in general, and in many cases 
accelerated, while the expenses of an education are diminished 
very considerably. 

Such a program of work and study conforms more closely 
to the Industrial and half-time schools of the present day than 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 15 

to the Manual Training school. It is important that this type 
of school be noted, however, in order that a proper perspective 
be obtained of the progress of the manual training movement in 
this country. 

In 1832, the Committee on Education of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of Pennsylvania was directed to prepare a report on 
Manual Labor Academies. In the course of its report, the 
committee stated that "From a careful examination of the 
nature of these institutions (Manual Labor Academies), and 
the principles upon which they are based, and from information 
derived from gentlemen well versed in education, as well as 
from personal observation, the committee is fully convinced 
that whatever prejudices may heretofore have existed against 
the manual labor system of instruction, it is one peculiarly 
adapted to supply, in an economical and efficient manner, our 
present wants. It comprises manual with intellectual labor 
and recognizes as well, the development of the powers of the 
body, as increasing the strength and cultivating the various 
faculties of the mind." ^' 

The following propositions were submitted by the committee: 

First. — "That the expense of education, when connected 
with manual labor, judiciously directed, may be reduced one- 
half." 

Second. — "That the exercise of about three hours manual 
labor, daily, contributes to the health and cheerfulness of the 
pupil, by strengthening and improving his physical powers, and 
by engaging his mind in useful pursuits." 

Third. — "That so far from manual labor being an impedi- 
ment in the progress of the pupil in intellectual studies, it has 
been found that in proportion as one pupil has excelled another 
in the amount of labor performed, the same pupil has excelled 
the other, in equal ratio, in his intellectual studies." 

Fourth. — "That manual labor institutions tend to break down 
the distinctions between rich and poor which exist in society, 
inasmuch as they give an almost equal opportunity of educa- 



^^ Mr. Matthias, "Pamphlets on Education" in Report of the Committee 
on Manual Labor Academies, Feb. 21, 1833, Vol. 2, p. 4. 



16 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

tion to the poor by labor, as is afforded to the rich by the pos- 
session of wealth"; and 

Fifth. — "That pupils trained in this way are much better 
fitted for active life, and better qualified to act as useful citi- 
zens, than when educated in any other mode — that they are 
better as regards physical energy, and better intellectually and 
morally."^^ 

When Illinois College was being established in 1832, the trus- 
tees, impelled by public opinion, introduced "a system of 
manual labor, as conducive to the health and economy of the 
students." The president of the college attested to this enter- 
prise as follows: "The scheme of manual labor schools was 
one of the then new-born favorites of the more ardent class of 
progressives, but had been very generally received by the 
public and must needs be subjected to the test of experience. 
This college came into being, just at the unlucky moment 
when it must needs bear a part in the experiment." "The 
scheme, however, after considerable pecuniary loss, was aban- 
doned, as fallacious and impracticable."'^ 

In 1834, the Industrial Schools of the American Female Guard- 
ian Society were started in New York City and, in 1850, the Five 
Points House of Industry was organized. Following this date, 
industrial schools began to increase in number much more 
rapidly. It is to be noted, however, that these early industrial 
schools were maintained by voluntary contributions, bequests, 
and tuitions. More recently some of them have received as- 
sistance from the city, state, or national government. 

A number of the higher institutions of learning in the United 
States introduced courses in agriculture and engineering about 
the middle of the nineteenth century. Other colleges and uni- 
versities were enabled to add these courses, and the work of 
the institutions already possessing them was greatly augmented 
by the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, by which the grant of 

"Mr. Matthias, "Pamphlets on Education" in Report of the Committee 
on Manual Labor Academies, Feb. 21, 1833, Vol. 2, p. 5. 

" Barnard's American Journal of Education, 1856, Vol. i, p. 228. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 17 

land for the endowment of these institutions was made.^* This 
act says: 

"The leading object shall be, without excluding other scien- 
tific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to 
teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture 
and the mechanic arts in such manner as the legislatures of the 
States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the 
several pursuits and professions of life." 

Massachusetts led the way in endeavoring to incorporate 
industrial training in the public school system when she passed 
a statute in 1872, authorizing the establishment and main- 
tenance by any town and city of any sort of an industrial school 
as a part of its public school system." 

That this law was in advance of public sentiment is clearly 
shown by the fact that no town or city availed itself of its op- 
portunity until Springfield, in 1898, opened its evening trade 
school. 

Tool-instruction was introduced in Washington University, 
St. Louis, in 1875, but systematic mechanical work had already 
been in operation there for a few years. This, then, might be 
considered as the beginning of the manual training in this 
country, for it subsequently led up to the establishment of the 
St. Louis Manual Training School. In 1876, at the Centennial 
Exposition in Philadelphia, Victor Della-Vos had an exhibit 
of the results of his instruction from his school in Moscow. This 
display aroused a great interest and caused considerable com- 
ment among the educators of this country. Previous to this 
time, however. President Runkle, of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, had become familiar with the system of 
Della-Vos, and in his report of 1876 gave a clear explanation 
of the methods pursued. Furthermore, he recommended that 
instruction shops be introduced in the Institute of Technology. 



^* A description of the work done by these institutions can be found in In- 
dustrial Education in the United States, a special Report prepared by the 
United States Bureau of Education in 1883. 

" This statute was approved March 9, 1872, and is given in the Report of 
the Mass. Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, 1906, p. 12. 



18 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

His suggestion was agreed to, and, in 1877, the shops were 
practically completed. President Runkle deserves special men- 
tion because of the fact that he pointed out definitely that tool- 
instruction could be made of great value in any scheme of gen- 
eral education. 

Following closely upon the action of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, the St. Louis Manual Training School 
was established June 6, 1879. This school was made possible 
through the generosity of several gentlemen in St. Louis. Dr. 
CM. Woodward, who was Dean of the Polytechnic School of 
Washington University, was made Director of the Manual 
Training School. He had been a strong advocate of manual 
education, and in an address before the St. Louis Social Science 
Association in 1878 said: "The manual education which begins 
in the kindergarten should never cease. Just how we shall 
supply the missing links in the chain which joins the kinder- 
garten with the fully equipped shops of the polytechnic school, 
we cannot with certainty suggest." To Dr. Woodward, credit 
is given for coining the name "Manual Training School." 

At the St. Louis Manual Training School for the first time in 
America the age of admission to school-shops was reduced to 
fourteen years as a minimum, and a very general three-years' 
course of study was organized. The ordinance by which the 
school was established specified its objects in very general terms: 
"Its objects shall be instruction in mathematics, drawing, 
and the English branches of a high-school course, and instruc- 
tion and practice in the use of tools. The tool-instruction, as 
at present contemplated, shall include carpentry, wood-turning, 
pattern-making, iron chipping and filing, forge-work, brazing 
and soldering, the use of machine-shop tools, and such other 
instruction of a similar character as it may be deemed advis- 
able to add to the foregoing from time to time." 

"The students will divide their working hours, as nearly as 
possible, equally between mental and manual exercises." 

"They shall be admitted, on examination, at not less than 
fourteen years of age, and the course shall continue three years. "*» 

'"C. M. Woodward, "The Manual Training School." Heath, 1887, p. 5. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 1 9 

The first manual training school to be established as a part 
of a city school system was the Baltimore Manual Training 
School. "On the 24th of April, 1883, in response to a motion, 
a committee was appointed by the school commissioners to 
report upon the best means of fitting boys and girls 'as quickly 
as possible for self-support.' On June 19, 1883, the committee 
reported that it would be expedient to establish a high school 
for manual education under the supervision of the board, since 
*a knowledge of some form of industrial labor is as necessary as 
a knowledge of books; and as the state and city acknowledge 
their obligation to teach children to read and write, they can 
not deny their obligation to teach them to work, as the latter 
is as essential for the public welfare as the former. Only a 
small portion of those who receive their education in the public 
schools ever enter the professions, but the large number become 
artisans and adopt mechanical occupations for their future sup- 
port.' On petition, the city council empowered the school com- 
missioners to establish the school, and legislative action was 
taken in January, 1884. In March of the same year the school 
was opened with 60 students." ^^ 

The Chicago Manual Training School, established in 1883 
as an incorporated school by the Commercial Club of that city, 
was opened in January, 1884. In 1885, manual training schools 
were established in Philadelphia, Boston, and Toledo. Follow- 
ing this date similar schools were organized in various parts 
of the country, until, in 1890, the United States Commissioner 
reported 37 public schools offering manual training courses. 

"The oldest society for the promotion of Manual Training in 
this country is the Industrial Education Association of New 
York, a reorganization of the Kitchen Garden Association of 
the same city. The new objects of the association since its 
reorganization in 1884, are: (i) To secure the introduction of 
manual training as an important factor in general education 
and to promote the training of both sexes in such industries as 
shall enable those trained to become self-supporting; (2) to 
devise methods and systems of industrial training, and to put 



" United States Commissioner's Report, 1886-87, p. 792. 



20 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

them into operation in schools and institutions of all grades; 
(3) to provide and train teachers for this work."" This asso- 
ciation was, in the main, responsible for the establishment of an 
industrial normal school or college for the training of teachers, 
under the presidency of Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler. At pres- 
ent there are several societies which include manual training 
in their scope of activities, but most of them deal with the larger 
sphere of industrial or vocational training. 

Massachusetts supplemented her act of 1872 by approving an 
act in 1884 relating to instruction in the elementary use of hand 
tools in public schools. An act providing for the establishment 
of schools for industrial education was approved in New Jer- 
sey, March twenty-fourth, 1881. This was followed by an 
act for the promotion of manual training, approved February 
fifteenth, 1888. In New York an act was passed in 1888 entitled: 
"An act to authorize the establishment and maintenance of 
departments for industrial training and for teaching and il- 
lustrating the industrial manual arts in the public schools and 
normal schools of this State." Pennsylvania approved an act 
June twenty-fifth, 1883, entitled: "An act authorizing central 
boards of education, in cities of the second class, to establish 
and maintain schools for instruction in the mechanic arts and 
kindred subjects. "^^ 

Although the terminology in these various acts is different, 
it would appear as though all of the acts, with the exception 
of the New Jersey act of 1881, refer to manual training. 
Owing to the fact that the acts are not mandatory, very few 
districts took immediate advantage of the provisions made. 

New York City was one of the first cities to give manual 
training a thorough try-out in the grammar grades. In June, 
1887, a special committee of the Board of Education sub- 
mitted a report to the board containing an outline of a course 
of instruction in manual training. This report was adopted by 
unanimous vote of the board. The board then directed that 
after the course and manual should be prepared, "manual 

-^ United States Commissioner's Report, 1886-87, p. 790. 
23 These acts are given in the Report of the Pennsylvania Commission on 
Industrial Education, 1887-89, pp. 28-34. 



Development of Manual Training in the Utiited States 21 

training should be tested in a limited number of grammar 
schools, not to exceed six male departments and six female 
departments, together with those primary schools and depart- 
ments only that promote to the same, and that a reasonable 
time be allowed for the experiment." 

In the same year a resolution was approved by the Governor 
of Pennsylvania which authorized him to appoint a commis- 
sion to make inquiry respecting the subject of Industrial Educa- 
tion. The resolution provided that the commission should 
make an examination of the extent to which industrial educa- 
tion is already carried on in Pennsylvania and elsewhere; the 
best means of promoting and maintaining it in its several grades, 
whether by State or local action alone, or by both combined; 
how far it is possible or desirable to incorporate it into the ex- 
isting system of public instruction; the best method of training 
teachers for such schools or departments, and what changes, 
if any, are required in the existing system of normal schools to 
enable them to provide such training. 

"Industrial education" was interpreted by the committee as 
follows: "Industrial education, therefore, we understand and 
use as meaning primarily education; education with reference 
to practical life, but still education; the training of the hand, 
the eye, and the brain to work in unison ; the training of the 
whole child in such a way that his inward powers may act 
effectively through fit instruments upon his external surround- 
ings, and receive from them in turn accurate and informing 
impressions. It involves both the idea of manual training with 
reference to its industrial applications and the idea of educational 
or intellectual training which, with reference to industries, must 
be largely on the scientific side. "2* 

The committee made a thorough and exhaustive investiga- 
tion of industrial and manual training both in this country 
and abroad. The results of its research were embodied in a 
comprehensive report, consisting of 588 pages. In its recom- 
mendations, the committee suggested that manual training 
should be introduced in the public school system and that those 



" Report of the Pennsylvania Commssion on Industrial Education, 1887- 
p. 4. 



22 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

prospective teachers enrolled in normal schools should be re- 
quired to complete at least the equivalent of a six-weeks' course 
in wood work. 

Notwithstanding the growing popularity of the manual train- 
ing movement, it was not yet firmly or widely established in 
1890. At that time Mr. Chas. H. Banes prepared a paper on 
the "Manual Training and Trade Schools in 1890" for the trus- 
tees of the Williamson Trade School. He deplores the lack 
of instruction in manual training in the public schools and states 
that "The class of boys who would apply for admission into 
the Williamson Trade School would to a great extent come from 
the public schools, and without previous training in manual 
work. This condition of our public school system would seem 
to indicate the necessity for preliminary work at the William- 
son School, in the establishment of a primary preparatory de- 
partment of manual training before the work of the trade school 
is entered upon.''^^ 

It was about this time, also, that those who were opposed to 
manual training attacked it most vigorously. The movement 
did not have easy sailing. Many of the educators of the coun- 
try could not adjust themselves to the idea of introducing manual 
effort into a scheme of education which they felt should be purely 
intellectual. The bitterness with which the opponents of man- 
ual training attacked it can be readily appreciated if a few- 
paragraphs be quoted from the Report of the Committee on 
Pedagogics to the National Council in July, 1889. The sub- 
ject of the report is "The Educational Value of Manual Train- 
ing," and it is signed by George P. Brown, S. S. Parr, J. H 
Hoose, and W. T. Harris, former United States Commissioner 
of Education. 

The following statements are made: 

"The subject of the Educational Value of Manual Training 
has come to be of prime importance by reason of the fact that 
as a cause it serves to unite not only the critics of the educa- 
tional system already existing, but also its uncompromising 
enemies."26 



^' Chas. H. Banes, "Manual Training and Trade Schools in 1890 " p 12 
»C. M. Woodward, "The Educational Value of Manual Training" D C 
Heath & Co., 1890, p. 85. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 23 

"Your committee understands that any amount of manual 
training conducted in a school is no equivalent for the school 
education in letters and science, and ought not to be substituted 
for it. 

"Just for the very reason that the majority have before hem 
a life of drudgery, the period of childhood, in which the child 
has not yet become of much pecuniary value for industry, shall 
be carefully devoted to spiritual growth, to training the intellect 
and will, and to building the basis for a larger humanity. 

"The economic, utilitarian opposition to the spiritual educa- 
tion in' our schools comes before us to recommend that we fore- 
cast the horoscope of the child, and in view of his future possible 
life of drudgery, make sure of his inability to ascend above 
manual toil by cutting off his purely intellectual training, and 
making his childhood a special preparation for industry. 

"The illiterate manual laborer, no matter how skillfully 
educated for his trade in wood and metal operations, cannot 
read or write. 

"Work in the trades that deal with wood and metals (and 
these include the entire curriculum of the manual training 
school) would be disadvantageous to the delicate touch required 
by the laborer on textile manufactures. 

"To be excellent in manual training would not prevent him 
from being illiterate and a bad neighbor and a bad citizen — 
even a dynamiter."^^^* 

Several other paragraphs might be quoted, but the above is 
sufficient to show the attitude of the committee. The agita- 
tion in behalf of manual training was still in its infancy at this 
time, and such an arraignment by a committee composed of 
men of considerable standing in educational circles could not 
help but have a deterrent influence. 

The unreasonableness of the attack is now manifest, and at 
the time it was issued was unfair. It is quite evident that 



" C. M. Woodward, "The Educational Value of Manual Training," D. C. 
Heath & Co., 1890, pp. 86-93. 

*For a reply to this report see Woodward, ''The Educational Value of 
Manual Training," D. C. Heath & Co., 1890. 



24 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

the committee was either prejudiced against manual training, 
or else did not acquaint itself with the facts as they existed. The 
whole argument was hurled against a type of school in which 
trades only were taught, and against them unjustly, whereas 
the better type of manual training schools, which the com- 
mittee was to discuss, divided the time about equally between 
manual and academic branches. 

In spite of the opposition to the manual training movement, 
it enjoyed a gradual growth during the decade following the year 
1890. In 1900, 169 cities of over 4,000 inhabitants are reported 
in which the public schools offered courses in manual training. 
During the last twenty years the growth has been almost phe- 
nomenal. In 1905, there were 420 cities of over 4,000 inhabit- 
ants with public schools offering courses in manual training; 
in 1908, 671 cities; in 191 1, over 700 cities. 

The introduction of manual training has been greatly facil- 
itated by legislation in many states. The National Society 
for the Promotion of Industrial Education has compiled the 
laws of the several states on Industrial Education. In cal- 
culating statistics, schools of secondary grade only are con- 
sidered. The number of states providing for manual training 
is 18, or 37%. The number providing state aid for manual 
training is 9, or 19%. 

All the manual training of secondary grade thus far provided 
for by state legislation may be classified as compulsory, per- 
missive, and subsidized. Massachusetts is the only state which 
has enacted a statute enforcing instruction in manual training. 
By the acts of 1894 and 1898, Massachusetts required cities of 
twenty thousand inhabitants to include manual training in 
their elementary and high school courses. This law contained 
no provision for its enforcement and has not been very exten- 
sively observed. (Chap. 471, Acts 1894; Sec. 4, Chap. 496, 
1898.) The following states permit manual training by laws 
enacted: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massa- 
chusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. 
The following states subsidize manual training: Kansas, Mary- 
land, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, Vermont, 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 25 

Virginia, and Wisconsin.''* Up to June 191 1 no further legisla- 
tion was enacted with respect to manual training.^^ 

An appreciation of the position held by manual training in 
education is indicated by Professor James when he says, "The 
most colossal improvement which recent years have seen in 
secondary education lies in the introduction of the manual 
training schools; not because they will give us a people more 
handy and practical for domestic life and better skilled in trades, 
but because they will give us a citizen with an entirely different 
intellectual fiber. Laboratory work and shop work engender 
a habit of observation, a knowledge of the difference between 
accuracy and vagueness, and an insight into nature's complexity 
and into the inadequacy of all abstract verbal accounts of 
real phenomena which, once wrought into the mind, remain 
there as lifelong possessions. They confer precision; because 
if you are doing a thing, you must do it definitely right or defin- 
itely wrong. They give honesty; for when you express your- 
self by making things, and not by using words, it becomes im- 
possible to dissimulate your vagueness or ignorance by am- 
biguity. They beget a habit of self-reliance; they keep the 
interest and attention always cheerfully engaged, and reduce 
the teachers' disciplinary functions to a minimum. "3° 



^^ Bulletin No. 12, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion, Nov., 1910, pp. 57-60. 

^'United States Commissioner's Report, 1911, p. 149 
"William James, "Talk to Teachers," p. 35. 



CHAPTER II 

Conditions Which Led to the Introduction of Manual 
Training: Obstacles Which Retarded its Growth 

In attempting to interpret the progress of the world, the 
political economist would have us believe that every improve- 
ment or advance made in civilization may be reduced to economic 
terms. In such manner does he explain war, commerce, the 
introduction of money, industrial evolution, the abolition of 
slavery, and so on. He contends that every event of moment 
or advance in civilization has its cause and effect; the cause always 
an economic one, whatever the effect may be. 

We may readily imagine then, that the economist considers 
that the introduction of manual training into the educative pro- 
cess has been due, primarily, to economic reasons. And con- 
ditions seem to warrant this contention. For years, after coloni- 
zation had been started in this country, the settlements had 
comparatively few inhabitants ; land could be had in abundance 
by those who had sufificient perseverance to clear and cultivate 
it, and industries did not exist except those that could be per- 
formed at the home. Such were the conditions under which 
our forefathers lived, up to the beginning of the nineteenth 
century. 

At that time the United States was a nation which had just 
secured its freedom. Its policy consisted largely of experiment 
and trial. Many of its natural resources were unknown and 
others were but imperfectly developed. Travel was undertaken 
only when necessary because of its slowness and tediousness. 
The mail service was inadequate, hence correspondence was not 
extensively used. Labor-saving devices were yet to be invented 
as an aid to the nation in its effort to secure and maintain a 
prominent position among the powers of the world. 

The frontier life of that period required resourceful and self- 
reliant men. It required that they should have initiative and 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 27 

perserverance in order that the natural resources of the country 
might be developed and exploited. How well these requirements 
were met is witnessed by the fact that the United States has 
enjoyed the most phenomenal growth of any nation in history. 
It has become one of the most powerful and one of the most 
wealthy nations of the day. But with this miraculous growth 
have occurred three changes which are of particular interest 
in connection with the present discussion: i. The population 
has been changed from a distinctly rural community to one which 
is largely urban. 2. Land which was practically free is about 
exhausted. 3. There has been a wonderful industrial develop- 
ment in the country, which has absorbed many of the industries 
which were formerly performed in the home. 

During the past one hundred and fifty years our population 
has increased thirty-fold, and invention and industry have been 
instrumental, to a large extent, in concentrating a large percent- 
age of this population in the cities. In 1790 there were but six 
cities of eight thousand inhabitants, or more, in the United 
States; in 18 10 there were eleven such cities; in 1830, twenty -six; 
in 1 840, forty-four ; in 1 890, the number of such cities had increased 
to four hundred and forty-eight; and according to the last cen- 
sus report, 19 10, the number reached was seven hundred and 
sixty. In 1790, the urban population was one in thirty of the 
total population; in 1840, one in twelve; and at the present 
time, it is about one in three. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, land could be 
readily obtained by those who desired it. Vast tracts were 
available, only awaiting the coming of the frontiersman. As the 
population increased, so, also, did our boundary line become 
extended. 

As the line of civilization kept creeping to the west, the more 
adventurous spirits pushed further on. If the environment 
of the city or town did not suit the tastes of an individual, he 
could easily find a place on the frontier with practically no ex- 
pense other than the hardships which must necessarily be en- 
dured. But this mode of life has about reached its limit. The 
land which could be obtained for little or nothing is almost 
exhausted. The individual must now be content with city 



28 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

life or else pay a substantial price for land in the country which 
can be profitably cultivated. 

But the most remarkable change that has occurred since the 
formation of the United States has been in the industrial world. 
At the time of the Declaration of Independence there were many 
home industries, division of labor was in its infancy, and many 
of our manufactured articles were obtained abroad. 

Flax was raised and sheep were sheared on the farm. The 
flax was dried, hetcheled, spun, and woven ; the wool was washed, 
carded, spun, and woven. Then the clothes, blankets, linens, 
and whatever other cloth materials were needed, were made at 
the home. Mittens and stockings were knitted, bread was made, 
butter was churned, fruits were dried, soups were prepared, and 
clothes were washed; all these activities were performed by the 
housewife. The men cut the grain with the scythe and flailed 
it by hand; in fact, practically all the farmer's labor was per- 
formed by hand. During this period, about 96% of the popu- 
lation of the United States lived in rural communities. Now 
in a great many homes, most of these industries that were per- 
formed in the home are taken care of by the factory, the bakery, 
the dairy, the cannery, and the laundry. We even have the 
vacuum cleaner, which further reduces the labor of the housewife 
by effectively cleaning the house with the expenditure of but 
little effort. The hard manual labor, once performed by the 
farmer is now done much more quickly by the aid of machinery. 

It is not so many years since our shoes were made in their 
entirety by one person; the same may be said of our clothing 
and many other articles of every-day usefulness. But now we 
find that through the divisions of labor which have become more 
and more specific and highly organized, the manufacture of a 
single pair of shoes or a single suit of clothes requires many 
different operations, to each of which is assigned a particular 
individual whose sole duty is to attend to that particular opera- 
tion. 

"The early forms of industry gave the worker a relatively 
broad outlook; division of labor and specialization of industries 
tend to narrow this vision. As the division becomes more and 
more minute, the production of goods requires the co-operation 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 29 

of a constantly increasing number of workers. Each one forms 
but a link in a great industrial chain, and consequently sees only a 
minute part of the entire operation necessary to make the com- 
pleted article. Machine production aims at making a uniform 
and interchangeable product. The workman is unfortunately 
bound down to a rigid and monotonous routine; he becomes in 
time almost automatic in his movements. He struggles blindly 
on, working and producing, without recognizing the end in view, 
without feeling that he, himself, is an integral and necessary 
factor in the formation and operation of a great industrial machine 
or organism. "'1 

The number of persons engaged in industrial pursuits has kept 
pace pretty well with the industrial development. At times we 
hear that the labor market, both skilled and unskilled, is over- 
stocked, and again we hear that is is underfed, but under normal 
conditions the earnest workers can find employment and the 
fair employer can obtain workers. Our distribution in various 
occupations can be seen from the occupational groups in the 
United States, 1900. 

Occupational Groups Number 

Agricultural Pursuits 10,381,765 

Professional Service 1,258,538 

Domestic and Personal Service 5>58o,657 

Trade and Transportation 4,766,964 

Manufacturing and Mechanical Pursuits 7.085,309 

Total 29,073,233 32 

The number of those, included in the above, who are engaged 
in what maybe called "cultural occupations" is surprisingly small. 

Teachers and Professors in College 446,133 

Clergymen lii ,638 

Authors and Scientists 18,844 

Journalists 30.038 

Lawyers 1 14,460 

Officers, local, state, and national 86,607 

"F. T. Carlton, "Education and Industrial Evolution," p. 48. 
^^"Statistical Abstract of the United States," 191 1, p. 235. 



30 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Actors 34.760 

Artists and Teachers of Art 24,873 

Musicians and teachers of Music 92,174 

Dentists 29,665 

Physicians and Surgeons 132,002 

Total 1,121,194^' 

During the past century also, the position of women, owing- 
to different social, industrial, and educational conditions, has 
been entirely changed. Formerly her place was in the home; 
now she enters into competition with men in almost every pur- 
suit. According to the census of 1900, there were 21,776,864 
females in this country between the ages of fifteen and sixty; 
5.319.397 females, ten years of age and upwards, are engaged in 
gainful occupations, of whom 485,767 are between the ages of 
ten and fifteen years.^-* It is fair to assume that the majority 
of them are employed in cities and large towns. As labor-saving 
devices for the care of the household are introduced into more 
homes, the proportion of the female wage earners will undoubted- 
ly increase. 

We have, then, these three economic factors which have been 
working independently of each other for many years, but which 
have been very closely correlated. The exhaustion of public 
lands and the development of industries have both been instru- 
mental in directing the people toward the city. The significance 
of these factors, in their relation to the educational sytem, can 
best be revealed by determining whether our work in education 
has kept pace with them. Have the needs of the great army, 
who are engaged in industrial work, been properly provided for 
by the school; are the millions of women, who are now employed 
outside the home, being so trained that they will be well fitted 
to take up the burden of earning a living; and are the millions 
of other women who do the home-keeping receiving the training 
requisite for their future betterment and happiness? The answer 
to these questions may be found in the demand made for manual 
training ove r thirty years ago, and in the agitation at the present 

'' "Statistical Abstract of the United States," 191 1, p. 235. 
^ Ibid. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 31 

time for a change in the educative process. The too strict 
adherence to academic subjects gave the general impression that 
the pubHc school had not kept pace with the changed industrial 
and economic conditions, hence the demand for the introduction 
of manual work in the school. Perhaps this demand was not 
made by the people in so many words, but the lack of attendance 
and the great numbers of pupils that dropped out have been 
ample evidence that the school did not properly fill its mission. 

Educators have realized for a long time that the public school 
system was in some way inadequate, — that it was not holding 
the children in school. It was felt in a rather indefinite way that 
the conditions enumerated above had something to do with the 
difficulty, — but it was not until careful and scientific investi- 
gations were made that the causes stood out clearly. Professor 
Thorndike, who made a thorough study of the elimination of 
pupils from schools, estimates that the general tendency of 
American cities of 25,000 inhabitants and over is, or was at 
about 1900, to keep in school out of 100 entering pupils 90 till 
grade 4, 81 till grade 5, 68 till grade 6, 54 till grade 7, 40 till the 
last grammar grade (usually the eighth but sometimes the ninth 
and rarely the seventh), 27 till the first high school grade, 17 
till the second, 12 till the third, and 8 till the fourth. It will 
be remembered that the figures for public schools in the country 
as a whole are probably much lower that this." He goes on to 
say that "one main cause of elimination is incapacity for, and 
lack of interest in, the sort of intellectual work demanded by 
present courses of study. "^^ 

This condition leads to a consideration of two factors that 
might be called "preventive causes," i. e., manual training was 
strongly opposed because of these two elements: i. The strong 
belief held by many that the sole a:im of the school should be a 
cultural one. 2. The domination of the college over the high 
school, which in turn dictates the course in the lower grades. 

It is a well known fact that Massachusetts was the fore-runner 
in education in America. The Pilgrims were a religious people, 



'* E. L. Thorndike, "The Elimination of Pupils from School," Government 
Printing Office, Washington, D. C, 1908, p. 11. 
3^ Ibid, p. 10. 



32 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

many of whom were highly educated. They had had schools 
at home, hence it was expedient that they introduce schools in 
the new country. Furthermore, if their children were to be 
brought up properly, they must be taught to read, that they might 
read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves. Consequently, 
on Nov. II, 1647, the general court enacted a general school law 
which ordered "That every township in this jurisdiction, after 
the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, 
shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all 
such children as shall resort to him to write and read, ; and 

"It is further ordered, that where any town shall increase to 
the number of 100 families or householders, they shall set up a 
grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth 
so far as they may be fitted for the University. Provided, that 
if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, that 
every such town shall pay five pounds to the next school until 
they shall perform this order."" Previous to this date. Harvard 
had been established, so that by this Act provision was made 
for a continuous course of instruction through the University. 

"The supreme problems which presented themselves to the 
leaders in early Massachusetts history were intellectual problems, 
— problems of church and state. To establish and develop a 
self-governing community under the new conditions which con- 
fronted them demanded intelligence of a high order and widely 
diffused. These men, themselves educated in the most advanced 
learning of the time, saw in the study of classic languages and 
mathematics a means of developing the power of concentrated 
and sustained thought, of clear and logical reasoning, and of 
balanced judgment. They believed that the study of the history 
and literature of the past tended to widen the horizon of thought, 
to bring to the solution of the problem of today the experiences 
of yesterday, so that the successes and failures of other peoples 
in other times might serve as guides and warnings for people 
here and now. They called this a liberal education — an educa- 
tion that liberated, that freed from the bondage of narrow and 



" Hinsdale, "Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United 
States," p. 4. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 33 

local prejudice, and made the vision of life keen and far- 
sighted. "^^ 

It is to be observed that, according to the provisions of the 
act of 1647, all the children who might apply were to be taught 
reading and writing. To these, arthimetic was added some time 
afterwards. It was the specific duty of the grammar school to 
prepare for the universit}^ The task of the university was to 
prepare its students to take up the problems of Church and 
State. The curriculum of the college consisted largely of Latin, 
Greek, History, Literature, a little Mathematics, Logic, and 
Theology. The whole procedure was distinctly cultural. No 
provision was made for the manual worker other than reading 
and writing. 

Many of the other New England States followed the laws 
established by Massachusetts. Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
Maine, and Vermont were all more or less dependencies of 
Massachusetts and followed her educational institutions to a cer- 
tain extent. The other states were for many years far behind the 
New England States in matters pertaining to education. " For 
this there were many reasons, some external and some internal. 
Nowhere outside of New England do we find that intense 
town life which did so much to stimulate men's minds, including 
schools and learning. And nowhere else save among the Scotch 
Irish of the frontiers did the prevailing types of religious belief 
and ecclesiastical organization tend so strongly to diffuse intelli- 
gence and promote education. There was a wide interval between 
the planters of the South, for instance, and the farmers, lawyers, 
ministers, and tradesmen of the New England States. Learning 
held no such place in the minds of the one as in the minds of the 
other. The typical Virginian was a man of vigorous faculties, 
knowledge of the world, force of character, and book education 
sufficient for his purposes; — but he was no theologian, dialec- 
tician, or scholar. "2* 

Writing in 1 824-1 825, Mr. James G. Carter, to whom Dr. 
Barnard gives the credit of having first attracted the attention 

**" Report of the Massachusetts Industrial Education Com.," p. 8. 
'^ Hinsdale, "Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United 
States," p. 34. 



34 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

of the leading minds of Massachusetts to the necessity of immed- 
iate and thorough improvement in the system of free or pubHc 
schools, states that the subjects taught in all the schools were 
reading, spelling, and English grammar; in the better schools, 
writing, arithmetic, history, and geography were taught in addi- 
tion. ^° Horace Mann was largely responsible for the introduc- 
tion of hygiene, which practically completed the list of subjects 
up to the time when manual training was introduced. The 
scope of the work of the various subjects mentioned was extended 
and amplified, but mental work only was deemed of importance. 

This same period also "witnessed the gradual destruction of 
domestic industry and the development of the factory system. 
Improvements and inventions in various lines of manufacture 
and communication followed each other in rapid succession. 
The Embargo Act, the War of 1812, the shipping regulations 
of foreign nations, adopted subsequent to the war, and the 
westward movement tended to rapidly shift capital and enter- 
prise, particularly in New England, from commerce to manu- 
facture. Canal and railroad building followed, immigration 
multiplied rapidly, the towns increased in size and importance, 
manufacture became an important economic interest. "^^ 

Notwithstanding these constantly changing conditions, the 
cultural form of education, which was outlined for the benefit 
of those who were to have charge of Church and State affairs, 
was still considered to best fit the needs of everyone. The form 
had changed very little, but the scope was greatly enlarged. 
Those who had entered industrial and mechanical pursuits, and 
the girls who were now permitted to enjoy the privileges of an 
education, could all be educated to the best advantage by pur- 
suing this same course of study. The theory seems to have been 
that that which educates for culture educates also for life-work. 

In fact, the cultural value of education became so deeply 
embedded in the minds of educators, that when the demand for 
manual training was made, it was based mainly on the argu- 
ment that it possessed elements of culture peculiar to itself. 

"Hinsdale, "Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the 
United States," pp. 29 and 56. 
** Carlton, "Educational and Industrial Evolution," p. 29. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 35 

Other arguments were presented, of course, but the chief one 
represented the cultural value of manual training in order to 
meet the strong opposition of those who feared the introduction 
of an utilitarian subject. 

For a long time it was believed that the training and mental 
development, obtained by the pursuit of some of the time- 
honored subjects, as history, geography, mathematics, language, 
science, etc., was of such a character that it might be applied to 
other subjects or to vocations with equal force. At the same 
time culture was being acquired, a general knowledge of many 
subjects was obtained, which assured the individual of some 
social standing, perhaps, but did little toward aiding him in 
practical affairs. In recent years psychology has done much 
to discredit this view. The psychologists have questioned the 
belief that the mental characteristics acquired from the study 
of some one subject can be applied to the study of another sub- 
ject with the same results. Furthermore, it has been argued 
that any one who follows a vocational course will necessarily 
become interested in allied subjects to such an extent that he 
will obtain whatever culture is necessary. If this be true, those 
who work in industries could readily make their leisure hours 
profitable. In any scheme of education it is essential that the 
work be so balanced that those who take part in it learn to make 
intelligent use of their leisure time. 

In the early history of our country the grammar school and the 
academy were the closest approach to the high school of the 
present day. But the grammar school was subservient to the 
college, and the course of study was shaped according to college 
dictation. The function of the academy was principally to 
afford boys and girls who did not wish to go to college an oppor- 
tunity to obtain a degree of general culture and practical effi- 
ciency. It was controlled by a close corporation and was rather 
expensive. Consequently, the demand arose that there be a 
school established differing materially from the grammar school 
and the academy, and that it be maintained at the public expense. 

Boston was the first city to listen to the demand that such 
a school be established. In 1821 the "English Classical School" 
was opened. Its name was changed to the " English High School" 



36 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

in 1824. The precedent set by Boston was followed by New 
York, when a high school for boys was established in 1825, and 
a similar school for girls in the following year; both of which, 
however, suspended operations in 1831. 

The growth of the High School was very slow until i860, when 
United States Commissioner Harris estimated that there were 
about forty in the country. Since that time the growth has been 
almost phenomenal. In 1870 there were 160 high schools; in 
1880, 800; in 1890, 2536; in 1900, 6005; in 191 1, 10,234. 

It is to be remembered that when the high school was started 
there was no relation between it and the college. The original 
aim of the high school was that it should serve only those who did 
not want to go to college. Naturally, such a standard was 
thought to be too narrow as time went on. The feeling that a 
course should be introduced into the high school which would 
prepare for college became stronger and stronger. The colleges 
were not slow to realize that the high schools might become 
larger contributors to their respective student bodies, so they 
brought a powerful influence to bear upon the introduction of 
college preparatory courses. The argument was that what was 
a good preparation for college was a good preparation for life. 
This influence became so great that, for a long time, the colleges 
practically dominated the high schools and arbitrarily dictated 
entrance requirements, which the high schools had to meet. 

The natural result of such an extreme position is that the 
pendulum has started to swing back, so that the argument of the 
colleges has been reversed, and the high schools contend that 
what is a good preparation for life is a good preparation for 
college. 

As an outcome of this attitude on the part of the colleges, 
the high schools have demanded that certain changes be made in 
the college entrance requirements. At this point two questions 
present themselves: 

1. What are the elements which have caused this revolt on 
the part of the high school? 

2. What is the function of the college, or rather, what are 
the functions of college entrance requirements? Are they to 
determine the student's knowledge of certain branches, or are 
they an attempt to determine his fitness to do college work? 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 37 

In relation to the first question, it is a well known fact that 
within the last forty or fifty years the entrance requirements 
in almost all of our colleges have been doubled. A brief review 
of the mathematical requirements will show this very clearly. 
In 1802, a knowledge of mathematics was, for the first time, 
required for entrance to Harvard. Even then the candidate was 
only required to cover Arithmetic up to the "Rule of Three." 
After 1816, the whole of Arithmetic was required for admission. 
In 1819 a trifling amount of Algebra was added. The catalogue 
of 1825 specifies the requirements as follows: Fundamental 
rules of Arithmetic; vulgar and decimal fractions; proportion, 
simple and compound; single and double fellowship; allegation, 
medial and alternate ; and Algebra ; to the end of simple equations, 
comprehending, also, the doctrine of roots and powers, and 
arithmetical and geometrical progression. In 1841, Euler's 
Algebra or the "First Lessons in Algebra" was required. No 
other changes were made until 1843. The catalogue for that 
year mentions for admission, Davies' "First Lessons in Algebra" 
to extraction of square root and an introduction to Geometry, 
from the most approved Prussian text books, to VII of propor- 
tion.« 

As taken from the university catalogue, the minimum re- 
quirements in mathematics for admission in 1 888-1 889, were 
as follows: Algebra, through quadratic equations, and Plane 
Geometry. The requirements at the present time are essentially 
the same. But Harvard is more liberal in these requirements 
than most of the colleges and universities. The majority require 
Algebra, through progressions. Plane and Solid Geometry. The 
technical schools require even more advanced Algebra and Plane 
and Spherical Trigonometry in addition. In a little over a 
hundred years, the requirements have advanced from absolutely 
nothing to the list just given. The increase in the requirements 
in many of the other subjects have been proportionate. 

In the second place, the high school is a tax-supported institu- 
tion. Since there is less than one in six of those who go to the 
high schools that go to college, the community has a right to 



"Cajori, "The Teaching and History of Mathematics," p. 131. 



38 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

demand and the high school teachers appreciate the justice of 
the demand, that the courses of study should be so constructed 
as to be of the greatest benefit to the individual when he takes 
his place in the community. 

Many colleges refuse to give credit for such courses. They 
suggest that if the high school feels obliged to meet the above 
condition it should establish a college preparatory course and 
a course which shall prepare for life. Such a policy is imprac- 
ticable in the small communities, because of the greater expense 
that would be incurred. The high schools have endeavored 
to adapt themselves to new conditions which have arisen, whereas 
many colleges and universities have maintained their time-hon- 
ored customs, have made no attempt to meet new conditions, 
and will give no credit for new subjects which have been intro- 
duced into the high school courses. 

The second question presents greater difficulties. It ought 
to be fair to assume that one of the functions of a college is to 
permit a pupil to show that he can do college work, irrespective 
of how much knowledge he has in different subjects. Of course, 
certain college courses require a definite amount of preliminary 
work which is continued in college. For instance, it is not to 
be expected that a boy who has pursued a non-classical course 
should be admitted to the classical course in college. This work 
should be considered as essential under the favorable conditions, 
recommendations, etc., necessary before he is considered eligible 
to entrance in college. But I wish to emphasize the fact that 
when a student has completed his high school course satisfac- 
torily there should be a course in the college or university ready 
to receive him. 

The University of Illinois, a short time ago, sent the following 
statement to every high school principal in the State: "The 
chief purpose of your high school is to prepare the boy for the 
business of making a living, and the university believes, on the 
whole, that it will require as good a training to make him a success 
in life as it will to make him a success in the university. We 
propose, therefore, to leave you free to determine the needs of 
your community and to prepare your boys and girls for success in 
that community. We shall then admit them to such courses in 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 39 

the university as will best supplement the education you have 
given them and best fit them for larger spheres of influence and 
of service." The stand taken by the University of Illinois is in 
accord with the recommendations of the Committee of Ten, 
which was appointed to investigate the articulation of the High 
School and College. In its report for 1893, we find the following: 
"There is a general principle concerning the relation of the 
secondary schools to colleges, which the Committee of Ten, 
inspired and guided by the conferences, find it their duty to 
set forth with all possible distinctness. 

"The secondary schools of the United States, taken as a whole 
do not exist for the purpose of preparing boys and girls for col- 
leges. Only an insignificant percentage of the graduates of 
those schools go to colleges or scientific schools. A secondary 
school program intended for national use must therefore be 
made for those children whose education is not to be pursued 
beyond the high school. The preparation of a few pupils for 
college or scientific school should in the ordinary secondary 
school be the incidental and not the principal object. At the 
same time it is obviously desirable that the colleges and scientific 
schools should be accessible to all boys and girls who have com- 
pleted creditably the secondary school course — in order that 
any successful graduate of a good secondary school should be 
free to present himself at the gates of the college or scientific 
school of his choice, it is necessary that the colleges and scientific 
schools of the country should accept, for admission to appropriate 
courses of their instruction, the attainments of any youth who 
has passed creditably through a good secondary school course, 
no matter to what group of subjects he may have mainly devoted 
himself in the secondary school. As secondary school courses 
are now too often arranged, this is not a reasonable request to 
prefer to the colleges and scientific schools; because the pupil 
may now go through a secondary school course of a very feeble 
and scrappy nature, studying a little of many subjects, and not 
much of any one, getting perhaps a little information in a variety 
of fields, but nothing which can be called a thorough training."" 



*^J. F. Brown, "The American High School," p. 58. 



40 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Unquestionably, there is a great deal of truth in the final 
sentence of this general principle. In order that the demands of 
the high schools may have a hearing and be approved it is the 
duty of every high school principal to see to it that his course is 
such a one as may be included under the heading of a good secon- 
dary school course. 

In some districts, notably the South, the high schools are 
not alone to blame. We find colleges catering to pupils who have 
not finished their high school course. As an illustration, I 
quote a statement from a recent report of Prof. William H. Hand, 
inspector of high schools of South Carolina. He states: " Reports 
show that the colleges of this and nearby states have in their 
college classes, from the schools of this state, nearly 200 pupils 
from the ninth grades and more than forty pupils from the eighth 
grades. One half the colleges of this state have now last year's 
tenth grade pupils in their sophomore classes." Under such 
circumstances it is not a surprise that the high schools in those 
districts were for a long time in a state of lethargy. 

The demands of the high school may be briefly summed up as 
follows : 

1. That the number and amount of required subjects be cut 
down. 

2. That colleges admit by certificate. 

3. That credit be given for standard subjects taught in high 
schools. 

I. Many colleges and universities have recognized the reason- 
ableness of the first demand and have diminished the number 
of required subjects. On the other hand, however, the number 
of specified subjects is so numerous and the fixed requirements 
so great in many instances that the high school principal is 
severely handicapped in the preparation of his course of study. 

Some idea of the diversity of practice in the number of speci- 
fied units for admittance to college may be had from a review 
of the statistics collected by the "Carnegie Foundation for the 
Advancement of Teaching." In 1909, there were 64 institu- 
tions on the accepted list of the Foundation, each of which re- 
quired at least 14 units for admission. 

The number of specified units required range all the way from 
none at Clark University to 14.5 at the New York University. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 41 

Nine of the universities require from none to 5, inclusive, speci- 
fied units; 16 require from 5.1 to 8, inclusive; 28 require from 
8.1 to II, inclusive; 9 require from ii.i to 14, inclusive; and 3 
require more than 14 units. Only 5 specify the total number of 
units required for admission. Although these statistics are not 
exhaustive they give a fair idea of the general practice. 

At a recent meeting of a New England Association of Colleges 
and Preparatory Schools the following motion was passed with 
but a single dissenting vote: 

"I move that it is the sense of the Association that the re- 
quirements for admission to college would be improved by the 
introduction of changes or modifications in the direction of the 
six recommendations made by Dr. Farrand." 

These recommendations were: 

1. That elementary Algebra end with quadratics. 

2. That in geometry a syllabus of essential propositions be 
made. 

3. That the mathematical work in Physics be reduced. 

4. That Latin and Greek composition be eliminated or reduced. 

5. That in English requirements there shall be a reduction on 
the emphasis placed on the knowledge of specific books. 

6. That the field in ancient history be reduced to reasonable 
limits. 

A short time ago the High School Teachers' Association of 
New York City recommended, among other things, that but one 
foreign language be required for admission to college, and that 
a more liberal amount of electives in science be permitted. 

The justice of the demand that but one foreign language be 
required for admission has been recognized by many colleges and 
universities, and they have accordingly adjusted their require- 
ments to meet this request. 

This is more particularly true of western institutions. The 
universities of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mis- 
souri, Virginia, Wisconsin, and many others require one foreign 
language for admission, and quite a number do not require any. 

II. Generally speaking, the East advocates entrance by ex- 
amination, the North Central States favor the inspection plan, 
and institutions located in various parts of the country advocate 
entrance by certificate. 



42 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Those who advocate admission to college by examination con- 
tend that a better class of students is obtained by this system 
than by any other. But the objection is raised that those 
teachers who have charge of the instruction of pupils who are 
preparing for such examinations conduct their work with the 
ultimate view of preparing directly for those examinations rather 
than for the purpose of preparing for the duties and activities in 
life which the pupils will be called upon to perform. This ob- 
jection seems to be sustained by the fact that the colleges which 
admit only by examination are the only ones which draw a 
greater percentage of students from private schools than from 
public schools. 

The certificate plan has met with considerable approval both 
from the high school and the college, but even here the objection 
is raised that there is a tendency to shut out the average student 
from college privileges on account of the grades demanded. 

The North Central States have been enthusiastic in their 
praise of the system of inspecting and accrediting high schools 
which the universities have developed. The objection to this 
system is that the control of the high school has been too strongly 
centralized in the university, which, in turn, has used the high 
school to its own end. 

It is obvious that every system proposed would be open to 
criticism, but if the state department of education of each state 
would develop an efficient and sufficient corps of high school 
inspectors whose duty it should be to stimulate and encourage the 
high schools of the state and endeavor to have them maintain a 
course which could be considered a good secondary course, the 
objections would be minimized. This should, in no way, however, 
give the inspectors the power to dictate the course to be used in 
any given locality. 

The colleges and the universities of the state should then 
admit a graduate of any such high school to some one of their 
courses. 

III. Perhaps the most difficult problem that high school 
principals have to deal with in recent years, has been that the 
colleges and universities would not recognize or give credit for 
certain courses offered in the high school. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 43 

However, through the persistence and perseverance of the 
high school teachers and principals the outlook has become much 
more encouraging. According to a recent Bulletin of College 
Entrance Examinations issued by the United States Bureau of 
Education, there are now among 203 colleges of liberal arts, 97 
which recognize shopwork, 88 commercial subjects, 80 agricul- 
tural, and 79 household science. The institutions which recognize 
for entrance any subject that an approved high school counts in 
its graduation requirements are growing, except apparently 
among women's colleges. 

A few colleges give credit for all well conducted courses in 
the high school, and many others have adjusted their entrance re- 
quirements so as to give credit to some of the vocational subjects, 
but there are still a great many colleges and universities which 
have thus far turned a deaf ear to all arguments. It is to these 
institutions that the high schools must continue to make their 
appeal. 

The Committee on College Entrance Requirements in Mathe- 
matics and Science, appointed in June, 1909, submitted resolu- 
tions for adoption in 191 1, among which were the following: 

"Whereas — The present high school courses have been sub- 
jected to trenchant criticism, especially from the industrial and 
business worlds, chiefly because present courses give insufficient 
attention to vocational training or to the future work of the child, 
and this has been one of the causes contributing to the loss from 
the high school of both boys and girls who would profit largely 
by courses that would more directly prepare them to meet the 
actual demands of business and of manufacturing life; and 

"Whereas — Although we recognize the great benefits that 
have come in the past to the secondary school through college 
entrance requirements, we yet believe that the present excessive 
severity of these requirements along certain traditional lines and 
the failure of the colleges to recognize the educational value of 
vocational courses toward college admission, are conditions which 
very seriously hamper the freedom of the secondary schools and 
prevent necessary investigation, repeated experiment, and suc- 
cessful development of courses to meet present needs and edu- 
cational growth: therefore be it 



44 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

"Resolved — ^That we request the college to consider whether 
the work done by its students in college does not in large part 
furnish a better basis for testing the efficiency of school prepara- 
tion than do the present methods of entrance examination and 
of official inspection ; and 

"Resolved — That as we consider the larger and the more 
important duty of the secondary school is the preparation of the 
students for immediate entrance upon useful life in their com- 
munities, we believe the college should cease to discriminate 
against subjects that the schools find necessary in preparing 
their pupils for such studies."" 

The new entrance requirements of Michigan, Chicago, Harvard, 
and Pennsylvania are now formulated very much along the lines 
suggested in this report. While Harvard continues to demand 
examinations, they are less objectionable both in number and in 
form than of old, and mark real progress in the direction of giving 
the school sufficient freedom. The demands of the colleges 
named above are now so rational as to give little reason for 
criticism. 

Quite recently the High School Teachers' Association of New 
York City has taken a step which should bear fruit and which 
other high school teachers' associations might profitably follow. 
A committee was appointed to investigate the present college 
entrance requirements and to endeavor to bring about a better 
articulation of the high school and college. The committee 
suggested two methods of improving the situation: 

I. "That college entrance be based upon the simple fact 
of graduation from a four 3^ears' course in a first class high school." 

2 (a). "That the so-called 'required' subjects be reduced, 
together with" 

{h) "The recognition of all standard subjects as elective." 

"The specified entrance requirements of two foreign languages, 
the meager electives in science, and the absence of recognition 
for drawing, music, household sciences and art, shopwork, com- 
mercial branches, and civics and economics, constitute the chief 
difficulty." 



** "School Science and Mathematics," 1911, Vol. 11, pp. 371-373. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 45 

A number of important state and sectional organizations have 
declared, as one of their aims, the promotion of a better under- 
standing between secondary schools and colleges. But notwith- 
standing the efforts of these organizations, there is still consid- 
erable dissatisfaction among high schools with the present en- 
trance requirements and methods of admission. It is to be 
hoped that the work of the colleges and the high schools may be 
more perfectly harmonized in the near future. 



CHAPTER III 

Effect of the Introduction of Manual Training upon 
American Education 

In a discussion of the merits of manual training, as in many- 
other new projects, its advocates have many times made ex- 
travagant claims for it, and its opponents have made many 
equally bitter attacks upon it. A number of opinions might be 
given on both sides of the question, but one of each will be suf- 
ficient to make this point clear. The following is taken from 
an article by Mr. W. N. Hailman: 

"Manual training is proving its value as an efficient educa- 
tional factor, not only in the development of manual skill, but 
also in the enrichment and invigoration of the intellect, in the 
direction and strengthening of the will, in the establishment of 
the healthy moral attitude, and in the nature of public spirit."'"^ 
Again, "Whatever course in the high school the child may enter 
(presumably manual training in the grades is referred to here) 
he will carry there with him the habits of patient research, of 
rational thinking, of solid judgment, of creative fervor, of mobile 
skill, and calm self-reliance — in short, of all-sided efficiency 
which no other training can give him. And by these alone cai 
he climb to mastership in life."" 

Were these claims true, practically all our educational prob- 
lems would eventually disappear. But they appear to be with- 
out foundation in many instances and are based on no statistics 
or observations. That such results are desirable is undeniable, 
but the mere fact that manual training may produce such 
results does not warrant anyone in making the statement that 
it does. Even if it be granted that the child acquires all these 

"W. N. Hailman, "Educational Aspects of Manual Training," in the 
"Pedogogic Quarterly," Oct., 1899, Vol. i, No. 4, p. i, E. L. Kelloe Co 
*Ubid., p. 18. 



Development of Mafiual Training in the United States 47 

characteristics, there are so many other influences to be con- 
sidered that it is not safe to assume that they are benefits de- 
rived only from manual training. On the other hand, when 
the movement for manual training schools was first being in- 
augurated in the United States, Dr. Wm. T. Harris, who was 
one of the leading educators of the day, as chairman of a com- 
mittee on Pedagogics, strongly opposed it, and in the course of 
a report in 1889, to the National Council of Education, stated 
that the argument that manual training cultivates the powers 
of attention, perseverance, and industry, is misleading, because 
they are formal powers and not substantial. They derive their 
value from what they are applied to, and they may be mis- 
chievous as well as beneficial.*^ Dr. Harris did not seem to 
appreciate the fact that the same argument m.ay be turned 
against any of the recognized academic studies. For many 
years it has been contended that mathematics, languages, 
history, and other academic studies have cultivated these same 
powers. Such being the case, these subjects might produce 
mischievous as well as beneficial eff'ects, and consequently have 
the same objections raised against them as the committee raised 
against manual training. 

Manual training is no longer an experiment. It has been in 
use in this country for over twenty-five years and is now so 
widely diffused that it has become an integral part of the public 
school curriculum. It has been given sufficient time to demon- 
strate its usefulness and its adaptation to present day condi- 
tions. 

When the movement was still in its infancy, Dr. C. M. Wood- 
ward, ^^ of the St. Louis Manual Training School, suggested 
several results which might be expected to follow the introduc- 
tion of manual training. These results are submitted for two 
reasons. First, because they include most of the results usually 



*' "The Educational Value of Manual Training," Report of the Committee 
on Pedagogics, National Council of Education, July, 1889. In Appendix of 
Woodward, "The Educational Value of Manual Training," D. C. Heath & 
Co., 1890. 

** These 18 results are quoted from C. M. Woodward, "The Manual Train- 
ing School," Chapter VIII, pp. 212-213. 



48 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

given by advocates of manual training; second, because they 
were suggested twenty-five years ago, so that, after an experience 
of that length of time, it can be determined, to a large extent, 
whether the prophecies made have come true. 

"The value of manual training, when properly combined 
with literary, scientific, and mathematical studies, will be shown 
in the following ways: 

"i. Science and mathematics will profit from a better under- 
standing of forms, materials, and processes, and from the readi- 
ness with which their principles may be illustrated. 

"2. Without shopwork, drawing loses half its value. 

"3. Correct notions of things, relations, and forces, derived 
from actual handling and doing, go far toward a just compre- 
hension of language in general; that is, manual training cul- 
tivates the mechanical and scientific imagination, and enables 
one to see the force of metaphors in which physical terms are 
employed to express metaphysical truths." 

A. — Numbers i, 2, and 3 would probably hold true if mathe- 
matics, science, drawing, and language work were closely cor- 
related. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The 
progress in this direction one would expect after a period cover- 
ing twenty-five years has not been made. There have been a 
few books on practical mathematics published, and the new 
books are devoting more and more space to practical problems, 
so that we may hope for more definite results in the near future. 
In order to make mechanical drawing effective it is absolutely 
essential that it be correlated with the manual training, yet 
frequently we find them divorced entirely. Whenever possible, 
working drawings of the objects to be made should first be re- 
quired. If the teachers of the manual training and the teachers 
of other subjects would confer and map out a course whereby 
each subject would be taught so as to bring out its relation to 
the other branches, better results might be obtained. 

"4- Manual training will stimulate a love for simplicity of 
statement and a disposition to reject fine sounding words whose 
meaning is obscure." 

5.— Number 4 is of no significance whatever. Just as a boy 
at one period of his life has an inclination to jump from high 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 49 

places, at another period to display his physical prowess, so at 
a third period he has a desire to use large and fine sounding 
words. Difference in training would hardly aflfect him, and 
even if it did the advantage gained would be of small moment. 

"5. It will awaken a lively interest in school, and invest 
dull subjects with new life." 

C. — Number 5 may or may not be true. There is testimony 
to support this claim, but my own experience has been that it 
does not invest dull subjects with new life to any great extent. 
Testimony of others with whom I have conferred agrees with 
my own conclusion. Mr. C. T. Lane, Principal of the High- 
land Manual Training School, Fort Wayne, Indiana, states: 

"Our experience points straight to the conclusion that boys, 
if left to themselves, will tend to neglect their academic studies 
in favor of their shop work, and this conclusion of experience 
is confirmed by correspondence with principals of other schools."*' 

"6. It will keep boys and girls out of mischief, both in and out 
of school." 

D. — Number 6 offers no reason either for the introduction 
or the maintenance of manual training. Cases of discipline 
can be handled with much less expense and in much less time 
than the time devoted to teaching manual training. At the 
same time, it must be admitted that manual work has im- 
proved the discipline in particular schools. 

"7. It will keep boys longer at school." 

E. — Number 7 will be discussed later. 

"8. It will give boys with strong mechanical aptitudes and 
fondness for objective study an equal chance with those of 
good memories for languages." 

F. — Number 8 is no doubt true, for the innate tendencies of 
all individuals are not the same. At least it should make the 
school work much more interesting for those who have strong 
"mechanical aptitudes." 

"9. It will materially aid in the selection of occupation when 
school life is over." 

G. — Number 9 involves a question that it is extremely dif- 
ficult to answer. That it is true in individual cases is almost a 

**" Report of Public Schools," 1907, Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 58. 



50 Development of Manual Training in the United States 



certainty, but whether it occurs in a sufficient number of cases 
to warrant its being called a result is another matter. Even 
though statistics were available on the matter there would be 
no surety that it was not some other factor that influenced the 
selection of occupation. In many cases, particularly in in- 
dustrial districts, the boy would probably enter into industrial 
work whether he had received manual training or not, so that 
the selection could not be ascribed to his training. Further- 
more, it is quite possible that the manual training may be in- 
strumental in leading many boys to take up mechanical work 
who might otherwise have followed some profession and thus 
placed themselves in more enviable positions. The tendency 
among boys is, too frequently, to follow the line of least resist- 
ance. 

The Alumni Association of the Northeast Manual Training 
School of Philadelphia has compiled statistics relating to the 
occupations of the graduates of the school. This school has 
just completed its twentieth year. 



Accountants ig 

Actor I 

Actuaries 2 

Advertisers 18 

Architects 31 

Artists 12 

Assayers 2 

Attorneys at Law 37 

Agents (Railroad) 6 

Agent (Immigrant) i 

Bakers 3 

Banker i 

Baseball (Professional) 3 

Blacksmiths 2 

Bookkeepers 67 

Builders 10 

Buyers 10 

Bricklayers 2 

Brewers 2 

Brokers g 

Carpenters 3 

Cashiers 10 

Caterer t 



Captain (marine) i 

Chemists 32 

Clergymen 7 

Clerks (general) 109 

Clerks (chief) 10 

Clerks (bank) 44 

Clerks (railroad) 60 

Clerks (postoffice) 9 

Collectors 5 

Consul I 

Contractors 15 

Dairymen 2 

Decorators 5 

Dentists ig 

Designers 24 

Draughtsmen (architect) 22 

Draughtsmen (chief) 12 

Draughtsmen (mechanical) 229 

Draughtsmen (marine) 12 

Druggists 15 

Dyers 3 

Estimators jo 

Electricians gi 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 51 



Editors 5 

Engineers (civil) 93 

Engineers (consulting) 14 

Engineers (chemical) 7 

Engineers (electrical) 49 

Engineer (marine) i 

Engineers (mechanical) 62 

Engineers (mining) 9 

Engineers (railroad) 6 

Engineers (structural) 5 

Engravers 2 

Examiner i 

Experts 6 

Farmers 9 

Firemen 2 

Florists 5 

Foresters 2 

Foremen 15 

Grocers 5 

Instrument Makers 10 

Inspectors (medical) 4 

Inspectors (miscellaneous) 30 

Insurance Agents 21 

Jewelers 4 

Laundry men 4 

Lumber Dealers 7 

Machinists 33 

Manufacturers 44 

Mechanicians 3 

Merchants 64 

Miller I 

Musicians 8 

Managers 74 

Missionaries 2 

Newspaper Editors 2 

Newspaper Reporters 6 

Orchardist i 

Officers (army) 3 

Opticians 5 



Osteopaths 6 

Pattern Makers 11 

Photographers 5 

Physicians 60 

Plumbers 15 

Printers 22 

Principals 4 

Private Secretaries 2 

Purchasing Agents 5 

Presidents 19 

Publishers 3 

Railroad Supervisors 6 

Real Estate Brokers 52 

Ranchmen 2 

Stenographers 13 

Superintendents 56 

Salesmen 124 

Salesmen (traveling) 44 

Surveyors 42 

Secretaries 23 

Sales Managers 15 

Treasurers 15 

Transitmen 6 

Tellers 10 

Truant Officer I 

Tailors 2 

Teachers (college) 21 

Teachers (high school) 31 

Teachers (elementary school) . . 21 

Teachers (private school) 6 

Teamsters 2 

Undertakers 3 

Veterinary Surgeons 9 

Vice Presidents 7 

Writers 2 

Y. M. C. A. Secretaries 2 

Y. M. C. A. Physical Directors 2 
In Higher Institutions of Learn- 
ing 308 



"10. It will enable an employer of labor to better estimate 
the comparative value of skilled and unskilled labor and to 
exercise a higher consideration for the laboring man." 

H. — It is quite probable that Number 10 is true. The as- 
sumption is that the comparison is made between two boys 



52 Development of Manual Training in the United Stales 

of the same ability — one of whom has had manual training and 
the other has not had any such training. If they be given par- 
allel positions where a knowledge of manual work could be used 
to advantage, a comparison between the skilled and the un- 
skilled could be made— to the credit of the former without 
doubt. Dr. Woodward endeavored to secure facts relative to 
this point and quotes several letters from employers which sup- 
port this suggestion. 

"ii. It will raise the standards of attainments in mechanical 
occupations, and invest them with new dignity and worth. 

"i2. It will increase the bread-winning and hom.e-making 
power of the average boy, who has his bread to win and his home 
to make." 

/. Numbers ii and 12 are simply assumptions that will 
have to stand as such. It is to be hoped that they are true. 
In this connection it is interesting to note that some time ago 
Dr. Talcott Williams took the table of occupations in the United 
States Census of 1900, analyzed it, and pointed out that out of 
30,000,000 engaged in these occupations, only about 4,000,000, 
or about one in seven, are persons who would be directly bene- 
fited in wage earning by manual training or other mechanical 
work of the sort which is taught in the schools. 

"13. It will stimulate invention. The age of invention is 
yet to come and manual training is the very breath of its nos- 
trils." 

/.—Whether manual training has stimulated invention or 
not is another question which cannot be definitely answered. 
The whole number of patents, including designs, issued up to 
1890, when manual training really obtained a good start, was 
about 400,000; up to January ist, 1901, about 700,000 had'been 
issued, and during the past year the number reached the one 
million mark. How many of these patents have been taken 
out by individuals who have had manual training, and how much 
influence this training may have had in furnishing the new 
idea, It is impossible to say. It would be interesting to have 
statistics on this point. But it is certainly reasonable to sup- 
pose that when a large number of individuals have become 
familiar with tools, by the aid of manual training, and who 
otherwise would have little use for them, the field of invention 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 53 

is likely to profit. It is to be remembered, however, that in 
this field machines have multiplied more rapidly in the last 
generation than in all the rest of the history of mankind. Would 
the new industrial conditions alone account for this? 

"14. We shall enjoy the extraordinary advantage of having 
lawyers, journalists, and politicians with more correct views of 
social and national conditions and problems. 

"15. It will help to prevent the growth of a feeling of con- 
tempt for manual occupation and for those who live by manual 
labor. 

"16. It wall, to a certain extent, readjust social standards 
in the interests of true manliness and intrinsic worth." 

K. — Numbers 14, 15, and 16 scarcely require comment. 
They express highly desirable results, in the attainment of 
which manual training probably has its share. 

"17. — It will accelerate the progress of civilization by greatly 
diminishing the criminal and pauper classes, which are largely 
made up of those who are neither willing nor able to earn an 
honest living." 

L. — ^There is considerable evidence to support Number 17. 
J. M. Gillette, in his "Vocational Education," cites facts given 
by Professor Richard T. Ely, Dr. R. P. Faulkner, Booker T. 
Washington, Frederick Wines, and others, which indicate that 
lack of ability and skill, which special training would give, 
largely accounts for the existence of adult criminals and pau- 
pers.*" In the same chapter he gives figures which show that 
over 80% of the paroled convicts of Elmira, New York, where 
trades are taught and academic instruction is maintained, have 
been reformed. 

"The corner stone of the reformative system is industrial 
training. * * * * To effect a rounded development, intellectual 
and moral education is an essential accompaniment of industrial 
training, and schools of trade must be supplemented by schools 
of letters."*^ 

Although these statements bear more directly upon industrial 
education than manual training, it is but a step from one to the 

™John M. Gillette, "Vocational Training," Chapter VII. 
*^ Eugene Smith, "American Journal of Sociology," Vol. XI, pp. 94~95 
(from Gillette, p. 159.) 



54 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

other, so that they apply with almost as great force to manual 
training. 

Dr. C. R. Henderson gives us further evidence. He states: 
"It is almost certain that the custom of confining growing boys 
to the mere conning of book lessons frequently irritates and 
maddens them, excites disgust for studies which seem to have 
no relation with their lives and give their muscles nothing to 
do. One thing shines out clearly from the records thus far 
studied; that the lack of instruction in manual and trade pro- 
cesses and of personal moral and spiritual influences, must be 
charged with much of the tendency to crime." 

"The manual training school is suitable for industrial and 
reform schools, and for intermediate prisons or reformatories 
for young men."" If it be suitable for reform schools, it should 
be equally suitable, as a preventive measure, for many boys 
who might be drifting toward such schools. 

A large majority of criminals have no trade and are little 
better off from a scholastic standpoint. It has been found by 
experience that it is better to teach them a trade by means of 
which they can readily earn a living when discharged, rather 
than to attempt to teach them academic subjects, except in 
relation to the trade. 

Such testimony on the value of manual training in respect to 
these points seems to be conclusive. 

" i8. It will show itself in a hundred ways in the future homes 
of our present pupils; on the one hand, in the convenience and 
economy of useful appliances; on the other, in the evidences of 
good taste in matters of grace and beauty." 

M. — Number i8 is also a result which is certainly traceable 
to manual training. Any one who has "kept house" will testify 
to the numerous ways in which a knowledge of manual training 
may be applied. This would presuppose, however, practical 
instruction, not merely instruction in fancy work. 

The argument Number 7, that has been very widely used in 
urging the instruction of manual training and domestic science 
has been that, because of the interest aroused, a greater number 
of boys an d girls would be attracted to school. Closely allied 

R. C. Henderson, "Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents." d si^o 
"^Ibid., p. 286. . P 5 . 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 55 

to it is the contention that the two courses would be instrumental 
in decreasing the number of boys and girls below grade. The 
two questions are of the greatest importance, because it is a 
well known fact that two of the weakest links in the educational 
system of this country are the relatively low percentage of 
children who remain in school till their eighteenth year and the 
large percentage of children below grade. 

In order to get definite information on these points, I sub- 
mitted a questionaire to eighty high schools (the schools were 
selected from the list published in the U. S. Commissioner's 
Report in 1910, Vol. II, p. 26), located in thirty-eight states, 
in which manual training and domestic science are taught. 
Those schools having the largest attendance were selected from 
each state in most instances. Replies were received from fifty- 
seven schools representing thirty-three states. 

The questionaire reads as follows: 

A. — Do you believe that Manual Training and Domestic 
Science have been instrumental in keeping a larger percentage 
of boys and girls in school? Have you any statistics, past or 
present, to support your position? 

B. — Do you believe that Manual Training and Domestic 
Science have been instrumental in decreasing the number of 
girls and boys below grade? Have you any statistics, past or 
present, to support your position? 

Question B was prompted for two reasons: (i). Because I 
have seen the statement as given in the questionaire more than 
once, and (2) because it is very frequently stated in another 
form, i. e., that manual training and domestic science not only 
arouse interest in these subjects, but they also stimulate the 
interest of the individual in other subjects, and, if this be the 
case, it is safe to assume that there should be fewer individuals 
below grade. 

The replies are tabulated in the accompanying table. 

The dashes ( — ) under the heading "statistics" indicate 
that, although no definite statistics were given, statements 
were made which are of more or less significance. 

The crosses (x) indicate that the question was misinter- 
preted. 

The abbreviation (Ind.) indicates that the answer given is 
either indefinite, non-committal or doubtful. 



56 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

TABLE I. 



Location 



Students 



Boys Girls Total 



Ques. A. 



Stat. 



Ques. B. 



30 
31 

32, 

33 

34' 

35. 
36. 

37. 
38, 

39- 
40. 
41. 

42. 
43- 
44. 
45. 
46. 
47. 
48. 
49- 

SO. 
SI. 

52. 
S3. 
54- 

SS. 

S6. 
S7. 



. Birmingham, Ala 

. Selma, Ala 

, Berkeley, Cal 

. Ontario, Cal 

, Redding, Cal 

. Boulder, Col 

. Hartford, Conn 

. Macon, Georgia 

, Streator, 111 

. Fort Wayne, Ind 

. Indianola, Iowa 

, Waterloo, Iowa 

. Pittsburg, Kansas 

. Sterling, Kansas 

. Lexington, Kentucky 

. Baltimore, Maryland 

(Sup. Man. Training). 

Pocomoke, Maryland 

Brockton, Mass 

Brookline, Mass 

, Fitchburg, Mass 

Lynn, Mass 

Quincy, Mass 

Beverly, Mass 

Ironwood, Mich 

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich 

Stephen, Minn 

Yazoo City, Miss 

St. Louis, Mo 

(McKinley School). 

St. Louis, Mo 

(Central High) 

Billings, Mont 

Omaha, Neb 

Berlin, N. H 

Nashua, N. H 

Newark, N.J 

(Barringer High School) 

Paterson, N. J 

Long Island City. N. Y 

(Bo-ant High School) 

Fargo, N. D 

Cleveland, Ohio 

(Lincoln High School) 

Springfield, Ohio 

Oklahoma City, Okla 

Pittsburgh, Pa 

(Allegheny H. S.) 

Lebanon, Pa 

Reading, Pa 

Wilkes- Barre, Pa 

Bridgewater, S. D.i 

Memphis, Tenn 

Dallas, Texas 

Salt Lake City, Utah 

Richmond, Va 

(Armstrong High, colored) 

Olympia, Wash 

Seattle, Wash 

(Broadway High School) 

Snohomish, Wash 

Beloit. Wis 

Milwaukee, Wis 

(East Division High) 

Oshkosh, Wis 

Superior, Wis 

Menominie, Wis 



39 
36 
60 
40 
27 
41 

220 
6S 
28 

249 
50 
40 
70 
S8 
SO 

141 

42 

174 

82 

85 

212 

13s 



99 

79 

12 

34 
332 

ISI 

so 
312 

46 

S4 

144 

19s 
155 

45 
69 

199 

70 

120 

37 

394 

118 

12 

159 

49 

8S 

87 

55 
240 

86 
94 
44 

106 
60 



73 



60 

30 

60 

121 



39 
109 

60 
100 

57 

lOI 

341 
6S 
88 

473 

I2S 

90 
173 



60 
224 

75 

SO 
103 

461 104 

SO 100 
335 476 



99 
174 
104 

85 
212 
216 



81 



IS2 

105 



31S 
174 



75 
106 



288 

6 

S3 



13 

3 

III 

90 

271 

I 

87 

200 

9S 
100 



118 

40 



251 

184 

33 
647 
32s 

SO 
312 

46 
103 

144 

19s 
350 

120 
175 

487 

76 

173 

45 
394 
118 

2S 
162 
160 
175 
358 

142 
440 

181 
194 
44 

224 
100 



yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

no 

no 

no 

Ind. 

Ind. 

no 

yes 

yes 

Ind. 

yes 

Ind. 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

no 

yes 
Ind. 
yes 
Ind. 
Ind. 

yes 
yes 

yes 
yes 

yes 

yes 
yes 

yes 
yes 
Ind. 



yes 
yes 

yes 
yes 
yes 

yes 

yes 
yes 



no 


no 


no 


Ind. 


no 


yes 


no 


yes 


no 


Ind. 


no 


yes 


no 


yes 


— 


yes 


no 


yes 


yes 


no 


no 


no 


no 


no 


no 


X 



no 
no 
no 
no 
yes 
no 
no 
yes 
no 
no 



no 
no 
yes 



no 
yes 



Ind. 

yes 
no ans. 

Ind. 
no ans. 

Ind. 

yes 

yes 

X 

yes 
Ind. 



yes 
Ind. 



Ind. 
no 

Ind. 
yes 
(Not submitted) 
no I no 
no no 



Ind. 

no 

no ans. 
no ans. 

Ind. 
Ind. 
no 



yes 
yes 



no ans. 

no 
no ans. 



» Work not introduced as yet, consequently it is not included in the totals. 



\ 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 57 

From Table I it is seen that 41 schools believe that manual 
training and domestic science have been instrumental in keep- 
ing a larger percentage of boys and girls in school, nine of which 
have statistics; seven do not believe so, two of which furnish 
statistics; and eight are indefinite in their replies. There are 
39 which have no statistics; 11 have statistics; i was not sub- 
mitted; and 6 make statements which are not classified under 
statistics. The statistics of those schools which believe that 
manual training and domestic science have been instrumental 
in keeping a large number of boys and girls in school are given 
below : 

21. Lynn, Mass. "In 20 years the enrollment in the high 
school increased from 130 to 860." 

24. Ironwood, Mich. "In 6 years the enrollment increased 
from 160 to 315." 

32. Berlin, N. H. "Before these courses were introduced 
(1905) 60% of the boys and 20% of the girls never came to high 
school. Today 98% of those eligible to come do so, and in 
those particular courses probably 85% remain four years." 

40. Oklahoma City, Okla. "Manual Training was intro- 
duced in September, 1904 — enrollment in the high school 301; 
Domestic Science Department introduced in January, 1907 — 
500; present enrollment, 1,550." 

42. Lebanon, Pa. "In four years our high school enrollment 
has increased from 216 to 320. It is estimated that 10% of 
this increase is due to the addition of these departments in 
1907." 

52. Snohomish, Washington. "The Snohomish High School 
has increased from less than 100 to an enrollment of 282 in ten 
years. The growth of the town has been inconsiderable." 

57. Menominie, Wis. "Up to eight years ago, the highest 
enrollment in the Menominie High School for any year was 
165 students. At that time the manual training work was 
considerably extended both in the grades and the high school. 
For the past four years the enrollment has reached 250 yearly, 
an increase of about 65%. There has been no change in the 
industrial conditions and practically none in other conditions 
in the city during that time; the school census shows perhaps a 



58 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

dozen less children of school age in the city than there were 
eight years ago. At the same time a county training school 
and a county school of agriculture have been opened in the 
city and both have been well attended and have probably 
taken some students that otherwise would have enrolled in 
the high school. The only reason I can give for the increased 
attendance or the fact that the eighty grade pupils stay and 
enter high school is the attraction of the manual training work 
given in the grades and the high school. I know from personal 
contact with patrons of the school that things that their chil- 
dren are now able to get in manual training in our city schools 
have kept many of them in school beyond the compulsory age 
of 14." 

Statistics^ submitted by schools which do not believe that 
manual training and domestic science have been instrumental 
in keeping a larger percentage of boys and girls in school: 

10. Fort Wayne, Ind., and Kansas City, Kan. "The validity 
of the first assumption, that manual training would attract to 
the high school many young people, especially boys, who would 
not otherwise enter, can only be determined by statistics which 
are not at hand except for Kansas City. There, in 1898 a 
well-equipped Manual Training High School was opened with 
an enrollment of 842 students, and yet the total enrollment for 
that year of all the other high schools of the city decreased only 
142. One might jump to the conclusion that the establish- 
ment of the Manual Training High School attracted 700 stu- 
dents who would not otherwise have entered. But when it is 
observed that the total enrollment of all the non-manual train- 
ing schools was, at the end of five years, more than 200 less 
than It was for the year preceding the opening of the manual 
traming high school, instead of being 1,242 greater as it would 
have been had the average annual increase of the non-manual 
traming high schools for the preceding five years been main- 
tained. It becomes evident that the total increase in the high 
school enrollment of the city, due to the attractive power of 
the manual training high school, did not exceed 230 at the end 
of the five years. The only conclusion justified by the figures 
IS that the manual training high school is more popular than 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 59 

the others and has probably increased the total attendance a 
little above what it would otherwise have been. That some 
550 students entered the high schools during the opening of the 
manual training high school who would not otherwise have 
done so is obvious. The question is, what became of them? 
The answer may perhaps be found in the following facts. In 
1903, 26% of the boys enrolled in the manual training high 
school dropped out before the end of the year and 19.5% of 
the girls. The corresponding figures for the largest non-manual 
training high school were 18.2% and 19.2%. In 1905 the 
number of graduates from the latter school, with a total enroll- 
ment of 1,453, was 206, and from the former, with an enroll- 
ment of 1,683, was 135. The percentage of the enrollment 
graduated in the non-manual training school was 14.2%, in 
the manual training school it was 8%. The percentage of male 
graduates upon male enrollment was 11.09 in the former and 
7.16 in the latter. As far as the figures for a single year in a 
single school justify a conclusion, it must be that the pupils 
in the manual training school do not "stick" as well as those 
in the non-manual training schools. That this fact is observ- 
able throughout the five preceding years. Superintendent Green- 
wood distinctly states. A general investigation with a view 
to ascertaining what the facts of experience show, in regard to 
the validity of the assumption above stated, would be worth 
while.^ 

"Our own experience has been too short to settle anything, 
but the following table and statements may help towards a 
conclusion. Table II refers to the high school. Table III 
shows promotions from 8-A grade. The negative sign ( — ) 
indicates decrease." ^^ 



" C. T. Lane, Principal of High and Manual Training School, Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, "Report of Public Schools," 1907, Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 56. 
** Ibid. 



60 Development of Manual Training in the United States 



TABLE II. 



Year 



Year 



1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 
1904. 

1905. 
1906. 

1907. 



1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 

1905 
1906, 
1907. 



Boys 


Girls 


146 


267 


151 


246 


156 


217 


144 


244 


173 


247 


181 


248 


206 


274 


236 


356 


275 


273 


271 


405 



Total 



Per cent. 
Boys 



Per cent. 
Girls 



413 


35-4 


64.6 


397 


38.0 


62.0 


373 


41.8 


58.2 


388 


37-1 


62.9 


420 


41.2 


58.8 


429 


42.2 


57-8 


480 


42.9 


57-1 


593 


40.0 


60.0 


648 


42.4 


57-6 


676 


40. 1 


59-9 



Inc. 


Inc. 


Boys 


Girls 


15 


34 


5 


—21 


5 


-29 


-12 


27 


29 


3 


8 


I 


25 


26 


30 


82 


39 


17 


—4 


32 



TABLE III. 



Boys 



Girls 



Total 



Percent. 
Boys 



51 
62 

41 
46 
67 
81 

95 

95 

100 

105 



65 

88 

84 

78 

103 

107 

129 

139 
136 
122 



116 
150 
125 
124 
170 
188 
224 

234 
236 

227 



44.0 

41-3 
32.8 

37- 1 
39-4 
43-1 
42.4 
40.6 

42.4 
46.2 



Percent 
Girls 



56.0 

58.7 
67.2 
62.9 
60.6 

56.9 
57-6 
59-4 
57-6 
53-8 



Inc. 
Boys 



Inc. 
Girls 



II 

-21 

5 
21 

14 

14 

o 

5 
5 



34 
—4 
—6 

25 

4 

22 

10 

—3 
—14 



Total 
Inc. 



49 
—16 
-24 

^5 

32 

9 

5i 

112 

56 
28 



Total 
Inc. 



45 

-25 

—I 

46 

18 

36 

10 

2 

—9 



"We entered our new building and introduced manual train- 
ing in the fall of the school year ending June, 1905. The in- 
crease in the enrollment of that year over the preceding year 
was 112, by far the largest increase in the history of the school. 
Part of this increase would have followed the opening of a hand- 
some and commodious new building, regardless of what was 
taught in it. It seems fair, however, to assume that a part of 
this unusual increase of that year was due to interest and cur- 
iosity concerning manual training work. It must be observed, 
however, that the increase in the boys was only 30, 5 more than 
the preceding year, while the increase in the girls was 82, 56 
more than in the preceding year. Comparing the period of 






Development of Manual Training in the United States 61 

three years preceding the introduction of manual training with 
the three years since, we get the following results. For the 
period preceding, the total increase was 92, for the period follow- 
ing, the total increase was 196. The increase in boys was 62 
for the first period and 65 for the second, practically no differ- 
ence. The increase in girls was 30 for the first period and 131 
for the second, a difference of loi. Another fact must be con- 
sidered. A reference to Table III shows a very remarkable 
increase in the num.ber of promotions from the 8-A Grade dur- 
ing the period 190 1-7, an increase of 103. This rapid growth 
of promotions from the 8-A Grade would, of course, in the ab- 
sence of any other influence, have largely increased the enroll- 
ment of the high school. The conclusion from all these facts 
is that the influence of the new work was felt more strongly 
by girls than by boys, that the amount of influence is difficult 
to determine, but was certainly not great. 

"As to whether or not manual training tends to keep boys in 
school and to inspire a keener interest in other subjects, our 
experience, as far as it has gone, supports the negative. "^^ 

29. St. Louis, Mo. (Central High). "I do not believe that 
manual training and domestic science have been instrumental 
in keeping a larger percentage of boys and girls in school. I 
have statistics to support my position. In this school we give 
eleven courses. My tabulations last September of the per- 
centage of loss in each course show that of all pupils registered 
between February, 191 1, and June, 191 1, there failed to report 
in September for their courses: 

Art Course 20.5% Four Year Commercial 

General Course 25.5 Course 42.15% 

Scientific Course 9-3 Manual Training Course. . . 24.2 

College Scientific Course. . . 15.4 

Classical Course 20.0 Domestic Science Course.. .. 29.5 

College Classical Course. . . 11.8 Prep. to Teachers' Col. 

Two Year Commercial Course 8.4 

Course 41.5 



^® C. T. Lane, Principal High and Manual Training School, Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, "Report of Public Schools," 1907, Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 57. 



62 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

"These figures include losses of pupils through the entire 
range of the eight semesters of the courses. 

"You will notice that the courses that prepare for business, 
the four year and the two year commercial, suffer the greatest 
losses. Those in which pupils have a more distant objective, 
such as becoming teachers, and following professions, as in the 
scientific and college scientific courses, remain in school, and the 
percentage of loss in these is relatively smaller. The manual 
training and domestic science pupils represent the average loss. 

"It is my opinion that the manual training and domestic 
science courses have brought a much larger number of pupils 
mto the school, about one third of whom drop out during the 
first year. In fact, from February to September, 191 1, 604% 
of my entire school belonged to the first two semesters or first 
year. It may be interesting for you to know that between 
February 191 1, and September, 191 1, 37.8% of the manual 
training boys dropped out of school and in the second semester 
12.8%. Of the domestic science pupils, 45.8% dropped out 
during the first term and 26.7% during the second. 

"Moreover, in January, 1908, 411 pupils entered this school, 
of whom thirty-four began manual training and thirty-six 
domestic science. We are now graduating seven boys and two 
girls from these two courses." 

Statements made which are not of sufficient significance to 
be very well classified under statistics: 

8. Macon, Ga. "The upper classes have increased in 
size faster than first year classes, about 10% " 

16. Baltimore, Md. "According to reports of principals 
supervising schools before and after manual training was intro- 
duced such training has a marked effect upon increasing the 
attendance." 

41. Pittsburgh, Pa., Allegheny High School.— "Before we 
introduced this new department of our high school course 
our enrollment was about 600; now it is 800 and about 200 
students are in the manual training and domestic science work " 
^ 43. Reading, Pa. "Since the introduction of manual train- 
ing in our school the enrollment has steadily gone up, until 
today the enrollment of the boys outnumbers the girls " 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 63 

47. Dallas, Texas. "Our graduating classes for the past 
ten or twelve years hold a fairly constant relation in numbers 
to the total enrollment." 

49. Richmond, Va., Armstrong High School (colored). "We 
introduced manual training in this school in 1905, giving each 
boy and girl a half day each week in Domestic Science (girls) 
and Woodwork (boys). The school fell off in number that 
year and has never been as large since. 

"However, the next year, 1906, I changed the arrangement 
of studies and made a four year course instead of a three year 
course. This may have something to do with the decrease in 
the attendance. 

"Last September I introduced the industrial feature of the 
Manual Arts. We require all pupils who fail in the first year in 
the academic department to enter the industrial work. This 
is at present planned to give work in cooking and sewing, leading 
to proficiency in these arts. It is also proposed to give the 
boys an opportunity to learn some trade under shop condi- 
tions (part time plan). Our plan is to give a half day in aca- 
demic and manual work daily. 

"This year the school has fallen off very considerably in 
number again, the total roll being 60 less than last session. But 
again the falling off may be partly due to the opening of a school 
within two blocks of the building, charging a nominal tuition. 

"I should, therefore, say that manual training has had no 
appreciable effect in either of the two phases mentioned." 

The replies of those schools designated as indefinite or non- 
committal are given below: 

13. Pittsburg, Kansas. "Very little and that due to the 
elasticity of the course of study." 

14. Sterling, Kansas. "The work is practically new here; 
the boys and girls take a good interest in the work." 

18. Brockton, Mass. "I do not think that it would have a 
tremendous influence, although some may have been kept in 
school on account of such courses." 

20. Fitchburg, Mass. "It has made very little difference 
here." 

31. Omaha, Neb. "We have apparently only the natural 
increase each year." 



64 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

33. Nashua, N. H. "The work has been in operation only 
a short time, so no opinion can be given." 

34. Newark, N. J. "Evidence not strong." 

44- Wilkes-Barre, Pa. "Records rather support the ques- 
tion." 

With these reports the increase throughout the United States 
in the enrollment of persons 5 to 18 years of age during recent 
years should be considered. According to the United States 
Commissioner's Report of 1910, there are nearly 1,400 cities 
m the United States having 4,000 population or over. In 
more than half of these cities the public schools have manual 
training in several years of the course, generally in the elemen- 
tary grades, but frequently in all the years from the kinder- 
garten through the high school." In addition to these there 
are also 265 manual and industrial schools, exclusive of the 
Indian Schools, of which 74 are public.^ 



TABLE IV. 
( I)— Cities of over 4,000 inhabitants offering Manual Training. 



i869-'7o 


'79-'8o 


'90 


'94 


•96 


'98 


1900 


'01 


'02 


'03 


'04 


'05 


'06 


'07 '08 '05 






37 


95 


121 


146 


169 


232 


270 


322 


411 


420 


510 


644 


671 


ove 
7» 


(2)-P 


ercent. 


ige of persons ^ 


5 to iJ 


years of age enrolled in public schools. 


57 


65.5 


68.61 








72.43 


c 
71.67 








c 

70.35 


c 

70.43 


c 
69.61 


c 

69.32 


c 
















71- 



The first table was taken from the U. S. Commissioner's 
Report 1909, Vol. II, p. 1161 and Report of 191 1 

The second table was taken from the U. S. Commissioner's 
Reponjgio, Introductory Survey, p. xiv and Report of 191 1. 

"United States Commissioner's Report 1910, Vol. II, Chapter 26, p. 1205. 
United btates Commissioner's Report 1910, Vol. II, Table 168. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 65 

The sign (c) over numerals in Table 2 indicates that they are 
based on a comparison between actual numbers of pupils 5 
to 18 years of age enrolled (duplicates excluded) and estimated 
number of persons 5 to 18 years of age. 

Notwithstanding the great increase in the number of schools 
which teach manual training and notwithstanding the general 
impression among school principals that manual training and 
domestic science have been instrumental in keeping a larger 
percentage of boys and girls in school, it is observed that in 
1890, when there were but 37 schools recorded as teaching 
manual training, the per cent, of persons enrolled from 5 to 
18 years of age was 68.61, and that in 1907, when there were 644 
schools recorded as teaching manual training, the percentage 
of persons enrolled from 5 to 18 years of age was 69.61; an in- 
crease of I per cent. Again, comparing the years 1900, when 
there were 169 schools recorded as teaching manual training, 
and 1908, when there were 671 such schools, there was an 
actual decrease of 3.1 1 per cent, of persons 5 to 18 years of age 
enrolled. 

Of course, as a check upon these figures, it is to be remembered 
that the percentage of persons 5 to 18 years of age enrolled is 
estimated in several instances, so that they may not be accur- 
ate, but we have no more reliable statistics upon which to 
depend. 

Before formulating any conclusion, I wish to call particular 
attention to the large number of instances where a general im- 
pression is given, one way or the other, without any statistics 
to support the impression. 

And even when statistics are given, with the exception of 
three or four cities, no reference is made as to whether the 
change in enrollment is due to a change in local conditions, or 
whether the change is simply a normal one, or whether it may 
be due to some other influence. It is my belief that, when a 
change is made in the curriculum of a school of such vast im- 
portance as is the introduction of manual training, and even 
when changes of less importance are made, statistics should be 
kept in order to determine whether or not the change affects 
the enrollment. If this were done we could have more facts 
and less impressions upon which to depend. 



66 Development of Manual Training in the United States 



It is obvious from the facts related that, although in certain 
communities manual training and domestic science have been 
instrumental in keeping a larger percentage of boys and girls in 
school, throughout the country their introduction has made 
practically no difference in the per cent, of enrollment. 

According to Table I there are sixteen schools in which it 
is believed that Manual Training and Domestic Science have 
been instrumental in decreasing the number of boys and girls 
below grade, one of which has statistics which were not sub- 
mitted; eighteen did not believe so, one of which furnished 
statistics; twelve were indefinite in their replies; four misinter- 
preted the question; and six did not answer. There were forty- 
four which have no statistics; two have statistics, one of which 
was not sul^mitted; four misinterpreted the question; and six 
did not reply. 

Only one school submitted statistics on this question and 
they referred to one year's work. 

29. St. Louis, Mo., Central High School. "I do not believe 
that the Manual and Domestic Science courses have decreased 
the number of girls and boys below grade. I have statistics 
to support my position. 

"From February, 1911, to June, 1911, I had twelve hundred 
and eight pupils, of which six hundred and twelve failed in 
one or more studies, practically fifty per cent, of the school. 
The lowest percentage of failure was in the teachers' prepara- 
tory course in which thirty-six per cent, of the pupils failed in 
one or more studies. The Manual Training Course represented 
fifty-four per cent, and the Domestic Science also fifty-four per 
cent., who failed in one or more studies. This undoubtedly 
will seem to you an exceptionally large percentage of failures. 
I may, therefore, indicate the percentage by semesters: 



Manual Training Course 

First Semester 

Second 

Third 



Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 



Domestic Science Course 

70% First 

70% Second 

35% Third 

32% Fourth 

46% Fifth 

55% Sixth 

33% Seventh 

0% Eighth 



52% 
53% 
40% 
55% 
14% 
50% 
25% 
o%o 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 67 

The principal of another school, whose reply is classified under 
the column (no) gives a very interesting reason for his position 
as follows: 56. Superior, Wis. "I believe they have increased 
the number below grade because they have kept in school a 
large number that would have dropped out. The ones that 
dropped out do so in many cases because they find school work 
hard and not to their liking. However, I believe the courses 
a good thing, for any boy or girl that is kept in those courses 
is getting something even though he may not pass in his other 
work. I am heartily in favor with the move to make school 
work a preparation in every way for their future places in life." 

Most of the schools classified as indefinite or non-committal 
expressed themselves as doubtful or made statements to that 
effect. The replies of a few which are of more significance are 
given below. 

2. Selma, Ala. "It is the Superintendent's opinion that 
there are a number of vastly more important influences than 
the subjects of study that affect and determine the classifica- 
tion and promotion of pupils." 

16. Baltimore, Md. "Increased attendance will in time be 
a means of decreasing repeaters. We have only our regular 
attendance reports to support this contention." 

41. Pittsburgh, Pa., Allegheny High School. "Not a few 
students who formerly took the academic course and failed 
because they had no abiding interest in the course now take 
the Manual Training or the Domestic Science and make good 
records." 

A study has recently been made of 318 cities of varying size 
from all sections of the United States with reference to retarda- 
tion. The conclusions which are given are based on an age 
grade census. Normal age is defined as 6 to 8 for the first 
grade, 7 to 9 for the second, 8 to 10 for the third, etc. From 
the statistics given, I have calculated that the per cent, of the 
total number of boys below grade is 37.26 — of girls 31.86 — and 
of the total number of pupils 34.56. The fact that there are 
21 cities which show less than 15 per cent, of retardation for 
boys and seventeen cities that show more than 60 per cent, of 



68 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

boys over age, will give some idea of the great variation en- 
countered." 

A short time ago Superintendent Lurton, of Anoka, Minn., 
investigated the grade age status of 17,279 children in the 
grade below the high school in 55 villages and smaller cities 
in Minnesota. The towns are widely scattered in the State 
so as to afford every variety of social and industrial conditions. 
Instead of using the normal age of 6 to 8 for the first grade, 7 
to 9 in the second, as in the investigation mentioned above, he 
uses the normal age of 6 to 7 for the first grade, 7 to 8 for the 
second grade, etc., for reasons that seem sufficient. He finds 
that the average of all pupils considered, that are below grade, 
is 58.9. Taking the normal grade of 6 to 8 for the first grade 
and so on, he finds the percentage of children below grade to 
be 30.9.'° 

The results of these investigations have been given, not so 
much on account of the bearing that Manual Training and 
Domestic Science have upon them, but rather to show the 
seriousness of the problem under discussion. No attempt is 
made to give reasons for the results obtained, though several 
might readily be suggested, as absences, change of residence, 
poor nourishment, physical defects, etc. 

If records of retardation were kept before and after the intro- 
duction of Manual Training and Domestic Science, it seems to 
me the statistics would give definite information, for the other 
conditions would remain more or less constant. Of course other 
conditions which might influence the records would have to be 
carefully noted. The introduction of medical inspection, change 
of teachers, an epidemic of sickness, etc., might influence the 
percentage of those retarded one way or the other. But definite 
information must be obtained upon which to base conclusions, 
so that it is of the utmost importance that results, possible 
from a change in the curriculum, should be most carefully 
considered. 

•^ United States Commissioner's Report, 1910, Vol. II, Introd. Survey 
pp. XXI-XXII. 

^ *°F. E. Lurton, "Retardation in 55 Western Towns." Journal of Educa- 
tion, March 7, 1912, p. 262. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 69 

Because of the lack of statistics it is almost impossible to form 
any definite conclusions on this point. But from the large per- 
centage of children below grade, which continues to exist even 
though various methods have been employed to increase the 
interest of the pupils, it seems fair to assume that Manual Train- 
ing and Domestic Science have not stimulated the interest of the 
pupils sufficiently to keep them from being retarded. 

Results Considered from the Standpoint of Psychology 

Mr. Robert K. Row in the "Educational Meaning of Manual 
Arts and Industries" considers the manual arts from a psychologi- 
cal viewpoint. Some of his conclusions are as follows: 

Impulses. — ''Such fundamental impulses, as the general im- 
pulses to activity, the impulse to get sense stimulations, the 
impulse to play, to imitate, to construct or to make things, to 
experiment, to see what things will do in different conditions, 
the social impulse, the aesthetic, the ownership impulse, find 
peculiarly favorable and appropriate opportunities for expression 
in the various forms of Manual Arts and Industries that may be 
introduced into the school."" 

Therefore "the nature of the young child demands for his 
best all round development regular, systematic, varied exper- 
iences in manual arts and industries."*^ 

Sense Training. — "The actual manipulation of various materi- 
als, clay, sand, paper, cardboards, woods, metals, cottons, wools, 
silks, materials that are being worked over for the sake of some 
end in which the tactile qualities must be appreciated, supplies 
all the conditions for desirable training of the sense of touch. 
Along with these will go training in visual perception, which, 
however, will have special emphasis in those occupations in- 
volving colors, light and shade, details of form and proportion. 
Another accompaniment will be the training of the muscular 
sense in judging weight, pressure, and other forms of force. ""^ 



" Robert K. Row, "The Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Indus- 
tries," p. 206. 
'^ Ibid., p. 207. 
^Ibid., p. 69. 



70 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Motor Control.— "Experiments were conducted in which a saw 
handle involving the principle of the hand dynamometer was 
used ; also with a penholder which involved the same principle. 
From these experiments it is concluded that ' the simplest manual 
occupations, exercised with a fair degree of regularity and fre- 
quency under the influence of interest and attention, tends to 
develop, more or less rapidly, voluntary motor control for the 
particular movements involved."" 

Mr. Row's conclusions seem to be quite logical. It is a cer- 
tainty that the child is full of various impulses. When he has 
difficulty in handling the abstract, manual training enters upon 
its proper sphere in leading his impulses in the proper direction. 
It is equally apparent that the child's sense of touch, his visual 
perception, etc., are developed by his manual activities. Of 
course his sense centers would be stimulated and developed even 
though he never had manual training, but when these centers 
are stimulated under competent instruction, they would assuredly 
be trained to a greater degree of accuracy. Furthermore, the 
habits of motor control formed are of permanent value. When 
one acquires a muscular habit, through education of the reflex 
centers, it stays there. This is a fact admitted by practically 
all psychologists. 

But "with the progress of the child through the schools, manual 
trammg as a form of motor activity should occupy a less and less 
important place, except for those pupils whose wills in maturity 
are to be manifested primarily in energizing and co-ordinating 
muscular action. A boy who is to be a carpenter should contrive 
in all stages of his educational course to make manual training 
of this sort his most important occupation. But a boy who is 
to deal with questions of jurisprudence or medicine or education 
will suffer arrest in his evolution if he be kept too long and con- 
tinuously at work with his hands. His will must come to habitu- 
ally express itself with ease and efficiency in a different way from 
that of the carpenter. * * * * This does not mean, however, that 
manual tra ining should ever be entirely abandoned; it means 

trie's "°^'nf ^°'^' "^^^ Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Indus- 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 71 

simply that in the higher departments of education it is to receive 
less and less emphasis except for those whose life work involves 
continued use of the hand rather than of head primarily."" 

Conclusions 

Of the eighteen benefits which Dr. Woodward expected to 
result from the introduction of manual training, numbers i, 2, 
and 3 would probably be true, provided mathematics, science, 
drawing, language work, and manual training were properly 
correlated, but this is, unfortunately, not always the case, even 
after twenty-five years' experience. Numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 
give negative results. No direct evidence can be obtained to 
support numbers 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16; consequently, 
they must be considered as highly desirable results, which cannot 
be accepted with certainty. Numbers 8, 10, 17, and 18 may with 
reasonable assurance be considered as benefits directly derived 
from manual training. 

Manual Training and Domestic Science have not, to any 
appreciable extent, been instrumental in increasing the per- 
centage of persons 5 to 18 years of age enrolled in the public 
schools throughout the country. 

On account of a lack of statistics it is impossible to form any 
conclusion as to whether or not the introduction of these two 
courses has been a factor in decreasing the number of boys and 
girls below grade. Sufficient evidence has been obtained, how- 
ever, to warrant the statement that they have not been instru- 
mental in stimulating the interest in other subjects sufficiently 
to keep the pupil from being retarded, except in individual cases. 

The elementary but systematic training which a boy receives 
by completing a thorough course in manual training will certainly 
be of as great value to him in his trade, should he select a trade, 
as is the academic work to one who later enters one of the pro- 
fessions. 

Manual training is also a means of relaxation from the work 
which requires greater mental effort. 



'M. V. O'Shea, "Dynamic Factors in Education," p. 79- 



72 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

There seem to be as good reasons for stating that it helps 
develop some of the formal powers, such as attention, persever- 
ance, and industry, as there are for stating that certain of the 
academic subjects develop these powers. 

^ Manual training leads the child's impulses in the proper direc- 
tion, develops certain of the sense centers, and forms habits of 
motor control which are of permanent value. 

Perhaps one of the greatest results of the introduction of manual 
training is the fact that it was the entering wedge by means of 
which the vocational, industrial, and continuation schools have 
been and will continue to be introduced. 

Finally, I believe the results are of sufficient importance to 
warrant the maintenance of manual training in the public school 
system throughout its entire course but that they are not of as 
far reaching effect as the prediction of those who were largely 
responsible for the introduction of manual training would lead 
us to expect. 



CHAPTER IV 

Present Day Tendencies 

During the last few years there has been an unsettled condition 
in educational circles. Criticism against the various school 
systems has been plentiful and bitter. No doubt some of it is 
deserved, but much of it is exaggerated. It was thought by 
many that the introduction of manual training and domestic 
science would prove to be the solution of many educational 
problems, but such hopes have not been fully realized. "The 
wide indifference to manual training as a school subject may be 
due to the narrow view which has prevailed among its chief 
advocates. It has been urged as a cultural subject, mainly 
useful as a stimulus to other forms of intellectual effort — a sort 
of mustard relish, an appetizer — to be conducted without refer- 
ence to any industrial end. It has been severed from real life 
as completely as have other school activities. Thus it has come 
about that the overmastering influences of school traditions 
have brought into subjection both the drawing and the manual 
work."" 

The feeling that the best results were not being obtained from 
present day educational methods has led to various experiments 
— the introduction of which was made possible through the 
acceptance of manual training. These experiments have been 
prompted by the experiences of foreign countries, by the prac- 
tices of many corporations in this country, and by the needs of 
the community. 

For several years, quite a number of corporations in the United 
States have maintained apprenticeship schools in order to pre- 
pare boys and young men in their employ to become skilled 
workmen. The public schools did not provide for them and the 
old apprenticeship system, as applied to present day methods, 

^^Report of Mass. I ndustrial Education Commission, p. 14. 



74 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

was worse than useless. Mr. Magnus W. Alexander of the 
General Electric Company of Massachusetts, states that "the 
leaders of the modern apprentice idea are sensing their new re- 
sponsibilities by instituting courses which aim to train young 
men for industrial efficiency, as well as social usefulness. In- 
dustrial efficiency is sought by a systematic and thorough train- 
ing in the practical work of a chosen trade, and social usefulness 
is striven for, through effective, co-ordinate instruction in the 
theoretical elements on which the practical work is based, in 
such a manner that the growing young man may perform his 
work with increasing understanding and intelligence and may 
receive a wider outlook and imagination, and a better apprecia- 
tion of his obligations as well as his rights in the team-work 
of life."" 

Furthermore, a certain portion of the corporations seem to be 
looking forward to the time when the public schools will co- 
operate with them in giving the young people who desire it a 
practical education, which shall not be destitute of culture. 
Mr. G. M. Basford, assistant to the President of the American 
Locomotive Company, bears witness to this statement when he 
says: "We need skilled workmen who understand their work 
and its relations to the work of others, and who are prepared 
in citizenship to take their places in the organization of human 
life. To supply the need we must train the hands and the minds 
of our recruits. The present emergency seems to compel us to 
take the school to the boy for the training of the mind. Our 
greatest work is in the shop. The boy is in the shop and we must 
move the school to him for we cannot move him to the school. 
We cannot wait for the educators to adapt themselves to our 
problems, but we must take it in hand ourselves — hence the 
corporation school. Whether or not the corporation school is 
permanent is a question which may be safely left to the future. 
At present it meets an urgent need and will meet it until co-op- 
eration with the public schools may be effected."** 

"National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 
No. 13, p. 55. 
^Ibid., p. 89, 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 75 

Organized labor has placed itself on record as being in favor of 
some form of industrial training for those who desire it. It is 
not prepared to accept the plan of co-operation between corpor- 
ations and public schools, however, because of the fear that the 
corporations would dictate the policy of the public schools and 
exploit the young people working in the shops. But if the ex- 
periments which are now being performed are successful and 
prove to be beneficial to the young people, it is to be hoped that 
the labor unions will be broad minded enough to aid the move- 
ment. The belief, if ever there were such a belief, that manual 
training would be instrumental in increasing the number of 
skilled laborers appreciably, has been dispelled. This has been 
felt particularly by the trade unions. "The trade unions have 
been waiting in vain for twenty-five years for the manual train- 
ing schools to furnish recruits to the depleted ranks of skilled 
labor. It is tim.e now to take steps to bring back the standard 
of efficiency. We want a system which will develop the labor 
power of our people so that every worker may become interested 
in his work and approach the limits of human efficiency. * * * * 
A healthy community is impossible without the union of the 
schoolhouse, the home, and the workshop. Modern life has not 
yet accommodated itself to the great revolution of our industrial 
system. Nothing but a thorough industrial education and un- 
derstanding of the economic interests of society can lead to the 
necessary union between labor and capital and give peace and 
prosperity to the present disturbed and suffering industrial 
world."*' 

It is quite probable that the attitude of organized labor will 
have some bearing on the future policy of the public school 
system. There seems to be a feeling in labor circles that the 
industrial training should be acquired at public expense. The 
proposition is good but it is doubtful whether it is feasible. The 
expense that would be involved would be enormous. It would 
be impossible for any community to maintain the machinery 



*' Charles H. Winslow, Representative of American Federation of Labor, 
in "National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 
No. 13," pp. 171-172- 



76 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

and improvements that the various manufacturers in the com- 
munity would be compelled to have. The co-operation plan, 
under proper supervision and control, would undoubtedly fulfill 
the conditions with much less expense and probably with better 
results. 

Some time ago. Dr. Georg Kerschensteiner, Superintendent 
of Schools, Munich, Bavaria, gave several lectures in this country 
in which he described the operation of the continuation schools 
in Munich and other parts of Germany. His lectures created 
a widespread interest and met with much favorable comment. 
The continuation schools have been very successful in Munich. 
Dr. Kerschensteiner makes the statement that there are about 
20,000 pupils under i8 years of age in these continuation schools 
and that 93% of all the boys and girls between 6 and 18 in Munich 
attend the public schools of the town. It is doubtful whether 
this percentage can be equalled by any community in the United 
States. It has been our complaint for years that the present 
system of education does not keep the boys and girls in school. 
The Munich plan would seem to suggest a remedy for our defect, 
provided, of course, it would meet our conditions satisfactorily. 
This can be proved only by experiment, and the experiments 
could not be successful without the hearty co-operation of manu- 
facturers. In Germany, the employer is required to make a 
sacrifice by giving his apprentices the requisite time for school 
during the hours of work. According to paragraph 120 in the 
trade regulation law of the German Empire, issued in 1897, 
"every employer is put under obligation to dismiss his appren- 
tices from work at the hours appointed by the town for school 
purposes, under penalty of a fine."^" 

Certain of the fundamental principles underlying the proper 
organization of continuation schools, as outlined by Dr. Kerschen- 
steiner, may be briefly stated. "The first fundamental principle 
of a rightly organized continuation school is that it must extend 
to the eighteenth year of every boy or girl who is not being edu- 
cated in a higher school. It is of no advantage to a constitu- 

™ Dr. Georg Kerschensteiner, "Vocational Training," p. 12. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 77 

tional state to make its opportunities of culture accessible only 
to a small percentage." 

"In Germany everybody is now convinced that the voluntary 
continuation schools no longer suffice for the educational needs 
of modern states. As long as the continuation school remains 
optional, thousands of employers will prevent their youthful 
workmen from making use of its opportunities, except at the end 
of their days' work, when the mind and body are fatigued." 

" In the second place the continuation schools must engage the 
interest of the pupil. This can only be done by interweaving its 
teaching with the trade of the pupil. 

"The school must possess workshops and laboratories for 
practical work, as the center of its entire organization. There it 
can ennoble and intensify the work of boys and girls, and put 
processes that too frequently approach them only in a purely 
mechanical aspect on the basis of practical and scientific reflec- 
tion." 

"The fourth essential of the continuation school is the attitude 
of regarding technical education largely as a means for mental 
and moral training. 

"In the next place the subjects taught must be properly corre- 
lated. The relation between the theoretical and the practical 
must be made clear. 

" Finally, the aim and end of all this training cannot be merely 
industrial education. Its aim and end is the education of the 
man, whom it will not permit to be identified with and lost in 
the workman, and the modern state can never hope to become 
a state of culture and justice till it has succeeded, by the right 
manner of instruction, in restoring to work, robbed of its divinity 
by the advance of industry, its educational powers."" 

It is because of these factors, then — the maintenance of ap- 
prenticeship schools by corporations, the demands of organized 
labor, the fact that manual training has not produced skilled 



^^ Dr. Georg Kerschenstelner, "Vocational Training," p. 17. 
"/WJ.,p. 18. 
''* Ibid.,p. 19. 
" Ibid., p. 16. 



78 Development oj Manual Training in the United States 

workers in any appreciable numbers, the influence of foreign 
experience, and the needs of the community, that experiments 
are now being tried by the public school system in a number of 
communities. 

Several cities in the United States have put into effect the 
half-time scheme of education. Among those cities which have 
operated the system successfully may be mentioned Fitchburg, 
Mass., Cincinnati, O., Columbus, O., and Beverly, Mass. The 
general plan of operation is about the same in all of the above 
named cities, but it differs in some of the details. All seem to 
unite in giving credit to Professor Herman Schneider of the Uni- 
versity of Cincinnati for first working out the plan in the United 
States. 

According to the Fitchburg plan of Co-operative Education, 
"the course outlined is of four years' duration, the same as the 
regular high school course. The first year is spent wholly in 
school and the next three alternate weekly between shop and 
school. 

"The manufacturers take the boys in pairs so that by alter- 
nating they have one of the pair always at work, and likewise 
the school is provided with one of the pair. 

"Each Saturday morning the boy who has been at school 
that week goes to the shop in order to get hold of the job his 
mate is working on and be ready to take it up Monday morning 
when the shop boy goes into school for a week. 

"Shop work consists of instruction in all the operations neces- 
sary to the particular trade. 

"Boys receive pay for the weeks they are at work at these 
rates; for the first year, lo cents an hour; the second year, ii 
cents an hour; and the third year, 1 2 5^ cents an hour. **** These 
rates are higher than the former apprentices have been receiving, 
the manufacturers having of their own accord raised the prices.^* 

" Every candidate is given a trial period of two months, begin- 
ning immediately at the close of school in June, and if he likes 
the work and shows aptitude for the trade he takes the course, 



^^ Report of W. B. Hunter, Fitchburg, Mass., National Society for the 
Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No. 13, pp. 96-97. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 79 

otherwise he drops out, and, if he chooses, takes up some other 
course i,n the high school. Thus we give the boy an opportunity 
to find himself, something that has hitherto been lacking in 
our schools." 

The course of study at Fitchburg differs materially from the 
regular high school course usually offered. It may be summar- 
ized as follows :''® 

Subjects 1st Yr. 2nd Yr. 3rd Yr. 4th Yr. 

English and Current Events 5 

English 5 5 5 

Arith., Tables and Simple Shop Problems. 5 

Algebra 5 

Shop Math., Algebra and Geometry 5 

Shop Mathematics 5 4 

Freehand and Mech. Drawing 8665 

(First year, bench work) 

Physics 4 4 4 

Civics 2 

Mechanism of Machines 5 5 4 

Chemistry 4 6 

First Aid to the Injured i 

Commercial Geography and Business 

Methods 2 

The absence of language is quite noticeable. The time usually 
devoted to French, German, or Latin is taken up with Mechanism 
of Machines and Freehand and Mechanical Drawing, yet the 
number and scope of subjects offered would certainly give the 
pupil a broad enough outlook upon life so that he would not 
develop into a mere machine, with no interests other than those 
centered in his actual labor. And if, after a boy had taken and 
completed this course, he should desire to go to a technical college, 
he could readily do so with but a little additional preparation. 

"The Co-operative Course then, by the verdict of the students, 
manufacturers, school authorities, and community has proved 
an unqualified success, and by extending its scope, there is no 
question in my mind but that the plan is the correct one to pro- 



^® National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 
No. 13, p. 99. 



80 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

duce just the kind of workmen that the country demands, and 
give to the ^workmen the ladder to cHmb to the highest level 
that.his native talents and ability will allow."" 

According to the Fitchburg plan, a boy is given a two months' 
trial and if, at the end of that period, he desires to follow that 
particular trade, the parents of the boy and the manufacturer 
enter into a mutual agreement whereby the boy is to continue 
at his trade for three years and in turn is to be taught the various 
branches of the trade designated. This phase of the plan has 
been severely attacked by the labor organizations. They con- 
tend that the boy is really indentured to the manufacturer in 
such cases and that he is exploited for the profit of the manufac- 
turer. Whether this is actually the case or not is a question, 
but it at least leaves room for suspicion. The Beverly Industrial 
School has endeavored to overcome this difficulty by having 
the trustees of the school retain full control of the pupils while 
in the factory and the same person to instruct a particular division 
in both factory and school. " By this means the work is conduct- 
ed in a way to contribute most effectually to the boy's progress 
in his trade and not to suit the exigencies of the factory, and the 
instruction is imparted by a trained teacher and not left to the 
uncertain pedagogical ability of the ordinary foreman. Most im- 
portant of all, it safeguards the pupils from exploitation and the 
manufacturers from unjust suspicion."^* 

The wide-spread interest in courses, other than the traditional 
cultural courses, has been instrumental in having legislation en- 
acted in a number of states. Messrs. Edward C. Elliot and 
C. A. Prosser have presented the legislation, relative to industrial 
education in the public elementary and secondary schools, in 
Bulletin No. 12, of the National Society for the Promotion of 
Industrial Education. The statistics given cover only "prac- 
tical training" as contrasted with the so-called "cultural training" 
provided by legislation for institutions of secondary grade, sup- 

" W. B. Hunter, Director Industrial Department, Fitchburg High School, 
in National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 
No. 13, p. 108. 

^* Adelbert L. Safford, Supt. of Schools, Chelsea, Mass., in National Society 
for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No. 13, p. iii. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 81 

ported and controlled by the public, wherein tuition is free and 
open to all able to meet the entrance requirements. Schools 
of the secondary grade only are considered. All private schools, 
schools for special classes, institutions for the supplementary 
education of those above high school age, and special departments 
in high schools or special schools offering vocational training along 
other than industrial or trade lines are eliminated. 

The term "practical activities" as used in the table given below 
is intended to include or cover any and all of the following 
types of training: manual training, manual arts, mechanical 
arts, technical training, household economy, agricultural, and 
industrial and trade training. 

THE EXTENT OF STATE LEGISLATION FOR PRACTICAL 
TRAINING 

Legislation % State aid % 

1. Number of states not legislating with re- 

spect to some type or types of prac- 
tical activities 19 40 

2. Number of states legislating with respect 

to practical activities 29 60 

3. Number of states providing state aid for 

some type or types of practical activities. 16 33 

1. Number of states providing for technical 

high schools 10 20 I 2 

2. Number of states providing for manual 

training 18 37 9 19 

3. Number providing for training in domestic 

economy 1 1 23 11 23 

4. Number providing for agricultural training 19 39 13 27 

5. Number providing for industrial and trade 

training il 23 8 17 

6. Number providing for all practical activities 3 624 

Almost all of this legislation has been enacted during the past 
twelve years. Of the twenty-nine states legislating with respect 
to practical activities of any type, twenty-five have enacted their 
present provisions since 1900. Of the sixteen states granting 
state aid for practical activities of some type, fourteen have so 
provided since 1903.'^* 

^' National Society for Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No. 
12, Nov., 1910, pp. 23-26. 



82 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

During 191 1, Colorado was the only new state to enact legis- 
lation for practical activities. The legislation provided for the 
establishment of a school of agriculture and mechanic arts and 
appropriated $75,000 therefor, and also provided for the estab- 
lishment of a state trade school. Alabama, Indiana, Maine, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wis- 
consin have enacted legislation relative to industrial education, 
in addition to that which had previously been enacted.*** 

The keen interest manifested and the recent legislation enacted 
have created a widespread discussion on the possibilities of the 
practical activities or vocational training. One outcome of this 
ever growing movement has been the introduction of a bill by 
United States Senator Carrol S. Page in the Senate; this bill 
provides : 

1. "For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and 
industries, home economics, and agriculture in public schools of 
secondary grade." 

2. "For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home 
economics in State district agricultural schools of secondary grade, 
as provided in section two of this act." 

3. "For the maintenance of branch field test and breeding 
stations — to be located at the agricultural high schools provided 
for in this act." 

4. "For the maintenance in each State of a college of agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts — of an extension department de- 
voted to giving instruction and demonstration in agriculture, the 
trades and industries, home economics, and rural affairs, to persons 
not resident at these colleges." 

5. "For the preparation of persons to serve as teachers of the 
vocations of agriculture, trades and industries, and home econo- 
mics — in departments of divisions of education in the State col- 
leges of agriculture and the mechanic arts of the respective 
States and Territories established under the act of Congress 
approved July second, 1862." 

The bill further provides for the establishment of a secondary 
agricultural school and branch station in each district, the total 



Report of United States Commissioner of Education, 191 1, p. 149. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 83 

number of such districts in a given state or territory to be not 
less than one for each fifteen counties nor more than one for 
each five counties and fraction of five counties. 

It is not the purpose of the bill to maintain the secondary 
schools but to co-operate with the states in encouraging instruc- 
tion in and preparing teachers for those activities mentioned in 
the above items. The bill provides funds for this purpose. 

Recently Senator Page stated that the bill has been amended 
and perfected so as to secure for it the enthusiastic endorsement 
of over 90% of the leading educators of the country. To these 
endorsements may be added the hearty support of many associa- 
tions and organizations which have given the bill serious consid- 
eration. If the bill becomes a law, it is to be hoped that similar 
benefits may obtain to secondary education as obtained to higher 
education through the establishment of the state colleges of 
agriculture and mechanic arts by the land grant act of 1862. 

Conclusion 

As was stated in the preceding chapter, I believe that the 
benefits derived from the proper presentation of manual training 
to be of sufficient value to warrant its maintenance in those 
schools where it is now taught, and to warrant its further intro- 
duction. But statistics seem to indicate that it has not succeeded 
in keeping a greater percentage of boys in school. As a result 
of this fact and other conditions that have been suggested in this 
chapter, various educational experiments are now being tried 
and advocated. Whether or not we are working in the proper 
direction depends largely upon what we conceive to be the pur- 
pose and aim of education. 

If the chief aim of education be a cultural one, then, perhaps, 
the old classical courses will best fit the pupils for this end; but 
if the chief aim be broader than this, if it is to be "an undertaking 
by the social body itself to fit an individual to carry on smoothly, 
in conjunction with others, the work necessary for the highest 
and fullest life of all, the further idea at once comes, that since 
society is progressive, since social demands change from time 
to time, since each generation and age has its own spirit and ideas 



84 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

to realize, education cannot be a static, changeless scheme or 
system."" 

Prof. Paul H. Hanus states that the special aims of elementary 
or early education are: 

1. "To nourish the mind of the child through a course of 
study which should comprise an orderly presentation of the 
whole field of knowledge in its elements, and thus acquaint 
the pupil with the world in which he lives and the civilization 
into which he is born, and of his own relations to them, including 
his duties and his privileges; and thus to provide the opportunity 
for the exercise of all the child's powers, mental and moral, 
aesthetic, manual or constructive, through good instruction and 
wise discipline." 

2. "To guard and promote his normal physical development."** 
The special aims of secondary education are: 

1. To discover and systematically to develop a human being's 
interests and capacities; intellectual, moral, aesthetic, manual, 
or constructive. 

2. With constant regard to the progress of this discovery to 
so direct his development, as gradually to emancipate him from 
external restraint and guidance, in order to render him, as far 
as possible, self-directing, i. e., physically, mentally, morally, 
stable, alert, vigorous, and active. 

3. To enable a youth to realize that he owes a duty to society 
as well as to himself; and hence, that the prizes of life — namely, 
wealth, leisure, honor, in order to possess lasting worth in his 
own estimation and in the estimation of his fellow men, must 
be earned; or, when inherited, as they sometimes are, that they 
must be deserved ; that, in short, man's highest and most perma- 
nent ideal is service.*' 

If these be the true aims of education, then appropriate courses 
should be established to fulfill them whenever conditions warrant 
it. If we fail to provide such courses for the pupils we may pre- 
vent them from developing the powers which they possess and 



*^ John M. Gillette, "Vocational Education," p. 73. 
Paul H. Hanus, "Educational Aims and Educational Values," p. 64. 



83 



Ibid., p. 65. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 85 

divert them into other paths which may prove to be of more 
interest but of less ultimate value. 

The mere fact that, in the past, we made the mistake in be- 
lieving that these courses which aimed chiefly at culture were 
the most efficient for all concerned does not warrant us in going 
to the other extreme. The needs of the community, the forms of 
industry, and the attitude of the parents, should all be carefully 
investigated before decisive steps are taken toward the introduc- 
tion of a new course of study into a public school system. The 
experience of those who have already adopted that course 
should also be carefully considered. 

Opinions differ as to whether the trade school, the continua- 
tion school, the half time school, and the industrial school should 
be controlled by the public school system or not. But in either 
case, extreme care must be exercised to prevent a growth of class 
distinction. It was this factor more than any other that retarded 
the growth of the public school system at its inception. The 
public school was the "charity school" and a sharp and fast 
line was drawn between the children who had to attend the 
public schools and those who could afford to go to pay schools. 

In this case, the line would be drawn between those who attend 
the classical schools and those who attend the schools where 
manual work is required. It has taken a long time to break down 
the prejudice against manual training schools, and even now it 
has not wholly disappeared. And it seems quite probable that 
this feeling might be greatly intensified in the newer type of 
school. 

It is not fair to assume that if the type of schools mentioned 
work well in Germany or some other European country it will 
work well in the United States. In many of the foreign countries 
the class lines are sharply drawn and are recognized and accepted. 
The son usually follows the same occupation as his father. He 
does not have to choose his trade; he simply enters the school 
that will fit him for his father's occupation, when the time for 
a choice comes. Such a condition does not exist in this country 
to any very great extent. Foreign experience may indicate to 
us the proper lines along which to experiment but we must base 
our conclusions on our own experiences and the results obtained. 



86 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

Ever since our War for Independence, we have prided ourselves 
on the fact that we have been a democratic nation. The Colon- 
ists felt that taxation without representation was a wrong prin- 
ciple; that it was the inalienable right of the taxed to have a 
direct voice in the government. This latter principle was one 
of the dominant factors in precipitating the war and has been 
our most cherished privilege since that time. 

In the Declaration of Independence, one of the truths enun- 
ciated as self-evident was "that all men are created equal." 
But the spirit of democracy goes further than that. All men 
should be given an equal opportunity to prepare themselves for 
their respective places in society. The only way in which we 
can obtain such a condition is to adjust the public school system 
to meet the needs of the community and the individual. 

We have been wrapped up in the close net of tradition ever 
since the first attempt at education was made in this country. 
There is nothing more difficult than to rend asunder the bonds 
with which custom surrounds a national institution. There is 
always a vast number who will continually put forth the argu- 
ment that what was good enough for them will be good enough 
for posterity. 

If we could but eliminate our educational traditions and face 
the problem of how best to educate the youth of this country so 
as to best fit them to make an honest livelihood and take their 
proper places in society, we would be better able to understand 
the present needs of our educational system, 

"A modern democracy of the industrial type demands both 
an extension of educational privileges, and a departure from the 
traditional methods of instruction in order to fulfill the condi- 
tions necessary to prolonging its existence. The democratic 
view of education is just beginning to rise above the pedagogical 
horizon. Free compulsory education is not democratic, if it 
is of the kind and character which is valuable chiefly to the pro- 
fessional man, or to the man of leisure; nor is it democratic if it 
merely aims to increase the efficiency and speed of the employees 
in our great industrial establishments.** 



F. T. Carlton, "Educational and Industrial Evolution," Int. p. 8. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 87 

"The former overlooks completely the dynamic view of the 
world; its eyes are turned backward toward the past. It mag- 
nifies the desirability of disciplinary and purely cultural studies; 
and on the other hand it minimizes the value of, and often sneers 
at, the practical and concrete. * * * * On the contrary, the 
partisans of the practical studies are prone to forget the lessons 
of the past, and to see only the immediate monetary value 
of the training which they advocate."** 



'F. J. Carlton, "Educational and Industrial Evolution," p. 74. 



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28. Henderson, C. R., "Dependents, Defectives, and Delinquents," D. C. 

Heath & Co., 1904. 



Development of Manual Training in the United States 89 

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38. Roark, Rurie N., "Psychology in Education," American Book Co., 1895. 

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52. Report of the Commission on Industrial Education, Pennsylvania, 1887 

and 1889. 



90 Development of Manual Training in the United States 

53. Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1879 and 

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60. Report of Public Schools, 1907, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

61. United States Statistical Abstract, 191 1. 

62. School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 11, 191 1. 

63. Journal of Education, March 7, 19 12. 



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